0
Quote
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.
From OccupyWallSt.org
I never thought that Americans would ever do something like this. Whether or not this had made a difference, or will lead to ... well anything, I never thought there was enough people in this country who would be motivated enough to demonstrate. After George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, I gave up on my fellow Americans. Then everyone threw in with Obama. I never thought he was the promised messiah everyone was making him out to be. All I hoped was that we would not elect another Republican. As long as the Republicans were shown the door, I was positive that there would be some improvement. The subprime mortgage crisis paved the way for "change" and in my opinion was the deciding factor in the election. Obama's platform for "change" was exactly what people wanted to hear. A great philosopher once said "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
The last 4 years have been historical. I saw universal healthcare slip away, the promise of transparency in government spending go unfulfilled, and then I saw the federal government hand over trillions of tax dollars to the most unethical and immoral businessman who have ever walked the earth. I saw AIG, a company who posted the highest losses (across 5 straight quarters) in corporate history, receive a series of bailouts totaling over $150B. Part of that money (over $200M) went to bonuses for the top tier executives and agents, who after receiving billions in tax money, went on vacations and resort getaways costing millions. But it's okay, in exchange for the $150B the government got an 80% stake in the company. The company that lost $99B the previous year. They got 80% of that. Instead of reaping what they had sown, Wall Street was able to privatize profits and socialize losses.
Follow the money: CNN's Bailout Tracker and the late-2000s financial crisis
The slogan of Occupy Wall Street is "We are the 99%" which is a reference to the concentration of wealth in the US, with the richest 1% controlling 40% of wealth in America. Another fun fact is that Forbes 400 (that is the 400 richest individuals in the US) have more money than the bottom 155,000,000 (one hundred fifty five million) people combined. Or In 2010, of the 100 highest-paid chief executives in the U.S., 25 took home more pay than their company paid in federal corporate income taxes. And according to the C.I.A.’s own ranking of countries by income inequality, the United States is more unequal a society than either Tunisia or Egypt.
So the question for me is, now what?
