This is a bit late, but I just came across this video at a post at the Occupy NH forum that Dave at the Ridley Report had posted and dates from the same Occupy Manchester rally that I attended:
I was more than a bit surprised that I was recorded (around 6:30) – am usually on the other side of the lens. Since I had already interviewed Leah earlier in the day, I started running my camera (the Flip, as I had already depleted the better camera’s battery) when I came upon her having just been insulted by Mark Provost. After seeing where the conversation was, I decided to bounce in:
At 0:45, Mark makes the claim that OWS (two weeks into the unveiling) was twice as popular as the TEA Party. Yeah, that was the Time poll (54-27), and if you examine how the questions asked about each were constructed, you’d understand why:
- IN THE PAST FEW DAYS, A GROUP OF PROTESTORS HAS BEEN GATHERING ON WALL STREET IN NEW YORK CITY AND SOME OTHER CITIES TO PROTEST POLICIES WHICH THEY SAY FAVOR THE RICH, THE GOVERNMENT’S BANK BAILOUT, AND THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY IN OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM. IS YOUR OPINION OF THESE PROTESTS VERY FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE, VERY UNFAVORABLE, OR DON’T YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE PROTESTS TO HAVE AN OPINION?
- ON ANOTHER ISSUE, IS YOUR OPINION OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT VERY FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE, VERY UNFAVORABLE, OR DON’T YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE TEA PARTY TO HAVE AN OPINION?
Wording is VERY important when doing polling – TIME Mag (self-avowed Left leaning) basically begged that OWS got a better result than the TEA Party. Now? Since then, and with OWS sites breaking out in thefts, assaults, internecine warfare, money squabbles, and now riots, it has gone down:
Some other observations:
- He also is a big unionist (1:50 "if we’d only be unionized like Germany") and implies that if Americans unionized at a higher rate, our economy would be better.
- And I just love it when Leah decides to let this blowhard have it for being rude (7:11) he claims she misquotes him (actually, she didn’t; 0:33).
- And he is there (8:48) to change our Republic to a democracy (something the Founders feared) and deliberately refuses to answer my question sidesteps my claim (10:01) of "The Larger the Government, the smaller the citizen"), and that Government is Too Big to Succeed.
His claim of corporate taxes being the lowest in 50 years? It certainly is the highest in all of the OECD (developed) countries at 35%. He also says that Obama being anti-business is a myth (well, certainly likes Jeff Immelt of GE, the poster child for Crony Capitalism)
Sidenote: BTW, the reason why we sound like we’re yelling at each other? Well, not really AT each other, more like we couldn’t hear each other over the rest of the crowd (and those annoying drummers).
NFIB monthly poll – he said that the number one issue was lack of sales going forward. He also said that polls said regulation was #5. So I looked it up:
- “Cost of Health Insurance,”
- “Cost of Natural Gas, Propane, Gasoline, Diesel, Fuel Oil,”
- “Federal Taxes on Business Income
- “Property Taxes (Real, Inventory, orPersonal Property)
- “Tax Complexity
- “Unreasonable Government Regulations
- “State Taxes on Business Income
- “Cost of Supplies/Inventories
- “Electricity Costs (Rates)
- “Workers’ Compensation Costs
So he is correct. However, look at the middle 5 items – all Government related (and a case could be made on healthcare cost being Govt driven as well). That tells me that half of the Top 10 problems that small biz face are generated by Government.
He claimed that 2/3rds of the people wanted Obamacare / Medicare for all to go further. he also touts that medicare only spends 3% on fraud and claimed it was efficient, and grew quieter when I pointed out that up tp $70 Billion goes to fraud from Medicare. I couldn’t find that, but in reviewing both Rasmussen and Gallup, I found these:
Rasmussen (March 2010)
Rasmussen (Nov 2010)
And now, 54% support repeal of Obamacare.