What follows is the very essence of passion and disphoric expression by the next generation towards today’s intractable political systems that serve the interests of the rich and powerful. Russel Brand’s passion and rejection of establishment processes to bring about change mirror the essence of the Occupy movement. The outragiously disparate distribution of wealth and power has so distorted and hoplessly incumbered politics and democracy that he and many young people today are repulsed by it all. They struggle for an alternative that doesn’t yet exist and may never exist. The rant is perhaps a glimps into the hearts and minds of the coming generation. Through the social media an emotional consensus is building which has no clear expression or pathway to change.
Actor Russell Brand reduces BBC newsman to stunned silence with diatribe against corporate oligarchy
By Travis Gettys
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Actor and comedian Russell Brand is calling for a political and philosophical revolution in his guest editorship of the New Statesman magazine, and he explained what he wants to see in a passionately argued interview on BBC’s “Newsnight.”
Combative host Jeremy Paxson asked the British actor, who’s known for his past drug use and his brief marriage to pop singer Katy Perry, what gave him the right to promote his political beliefs, particularly since he’s never voted.
“I don’t get my authority from this preexisting paradigm, which is quite narrow and only serves a few people,” Brand said. “I look elsewhere for alternatives that might be of service to humanity.”
Data Driven Viewpoints 
Though I would like to see some kind of a plan…..
Though I would like to see some sort of a plan…
Russel Brand’s passion and rejection of establishment processes to bring about change mirror the essence of the Occupy movement. The outragiously disparate distribution of wealth and power has so distorted and hoplessly incumbered politics and democracy that he and many young people today are repulsed by it all. They struggle for an alternative that doesn’t yet exist and may never exist. The rant is perhaps a glimps into the hearts and minds of the coming generation. Through the social media an emotional consensus is building which has no clear expression or pathway to change.
I’m sure Mr. Brand would love to be the first to split his wealth with the impoverished. Don’t you think? Words are worthless without action. I think that’s what the combative host, Mr. Paxson was trying to point out.
A fair distribution of wealth starts with a fair wage for a days work. Before the mid-’70’s wages were pegged to a fixed share of Hourly GDP and also adjusted for inflation. In other words workers shared in the wealth their labors created. After around 1976 corporate America stopped raising wages in step with worker productivity, only offering cost of living adjustments. This is the origin of the growth in the wealth disparity we have today. It is crazy to think the wealthy might be willing to share what already have. It is not crazy to expect and demand a better, fairer exchange for our labor. Mr. Brand shouldn’t be expected to give up what he has earned bit I’m sure he would be happy if everyone else was doing as well.
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After the 1970’s wages were more or less dictated by over reaching and greedy union bosses. Wages sky rocketed in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It’s time for an adjustment. Most of our major strides forward, unless you count cell phone technology, was made before the 70’s. Aviation, energy, and micro-technology to name a few all advanced at an alarming rate when people had the incentive of making more money if they worked hard to advance themselves. If the minimum wage is razed you kill part of that incentive. Entry level jobs are just that, entry level jobs, not jobs to keep you at the lowest level forever.
You have to be pulling my leg. The independently verifiable facts are exactly the opposit of what you claim. Just Google “union membership graph” or “wage history graph” and you will see you are simply wrong. Here below is a wage graph, for example:
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/graph-of-the-week-usa-productivity-and-real-hourly-wages-1964-2008/
It shows that wages, adjusted for inflation, declined over the decades since the mid-70’s. It also shows how productivity continued to climb.and the rise in household income is from more mothers entering the work force to make ends meet.
The second graph on unions shows that they were already in a stright-line decline from as early as 1960, and this is from a radical right-wing website:
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/01/27/chart-of-the-week-union-membership-continues-to-decline/