"As the figure shows, if the minimum wage had kept pace with average wages—i.e., if minimum wage workers saw their paychecks expand at the same rate as the average worker—it would be about $10.50 today. If the minimum wage had kept pace with productivity[i]—i.e., the economy’s overall capacity to generate income— it would be almost $18.75 today. Finally, imagine if workers at the very bottom were seeing the same kind of raises as workers at the very top. If the minimum wage had gone up at the same rate as wages for the top 1 percent, it would be over $28 per hour.[ii]"

Putting a $9 minimum wage in context | Economic Policy Institute

Just so you know. 

(via differentclasswar)

(via champagnecandy)

howtosharpenpencils:

This is a long post but it’s about something pretty interesting so I hope you’ll indulge …

Like many folks, Occupy Wall Street has been some doing good work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, helping people on the ground.

Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in…

(via sarajeans)

guardian:

Noam Chomsky on the Occupy movement

Historian and philosopher Noam Chomsky talks to Gary Younge about the significance of the Occupy movement in the US and how it will affect the upcoming presidential election in November

(Source: )

wasntreallyyou:

lizzledpink:

chininini:

xmaplebeerx:

jeenyusez:

vegan-because-fuck-you:

OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS AMAZING

I SNORTED OMG

I CHOKED ON MY CANDY OMFG

THE SINGLE BEST POST 

THE BEST

Morally obligatory reblog.  For you, Jaffe.

(Source: heathonist)

Beautiful.

apob:

19 May 2012

champagnecandy:

hawt.

(Source: destroyproperty)

champagnecandy:

This is the man who was stomped on by the cops before being dragged off and arrested. I didn’t see how he wound up on the ground being stomped, but I did see this. He stood ramrod-straight saluting, apparently with a Bible in his other hand (according to a reporter friend who saw this from the other side). The cops got on his face, then backed off, and he held his salute while chanting “Whose park?” and being answered from the crowd, “Our park!” 

We shouted “Thank you” as they loaded him into the police van. I didn’t catch his name, but one of the green-hatted National Lawyers Guild observers did. 

"

But as we walked up Broadway, a noise made us turn—just in time to see the same young man fall to the ground, curl into a ball, and to see a police officer raise his foot and stomp on him. The police quickly surrounded him, and livestreamers, photographers, and onlookers shouting “Shame” quickly surrounded the police, who dragged him to his feet and loaded him into a waiting van. The Guardian’s Ryan Devereaux told us that the young man was a Marine.

So when I reached my apartment that night, it wasn’t exactly shocking to hear that the police had charged back into the park, arresting many. Gregg Levine reports that some occupiers remained, linking arms, in the park when the police declared it needed to be closed (some reported that they heard it was for “cleaning”, though that’s unverified). Twitter reports a broken jaw and a broken thumb among the injuries suffered as the cops charged in.

Liberty Plaza Re-Occupied for 6-Month Anniversary of Occupy Wall Street; Police Violently Raid | AlterNet

so, reoccupation, crackdown, broken windows, broken jaws, do we get to call it violence when the cops do it? 

(via champagnecandy)

elledark:

Banksy on Advertising

“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are “The Advertisers” and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”

~ Banksy

Occupy Christmas!

an appeal to Trinity Church to turn over to the Occupy Wall Street movement an empty lot, known as Duarte Square, that the church owns at Canal Street and 6th Avenue. By Chris Hedges