Occupy This!

Occupy Wall Street, what an odd name for a movement.  But a movement it is and it is becoming more mainstream and on the minds of political players.  The main theme of Occupy Wall Street is basically frustration over the banking bailouts and a society now in the throes of class warfare.  People are losing their jobs, their houses, their dignity, their hope while the very people who led the economy to the brink of a second great depression have become, if anything, wealthier. 

Where on earth did this movement come from and why is it spreading around the world?  Perhaps this movement is coming from the heart and is an uprising of people who see injustices around them and have to speak out, let it out, and hope for action.  Or maybe the Occupiers are just radicals taking up a cause.  It probably is a little of both, but thank goodness it is here.  The excesses present in the current banking system and Wall Street hedge funds are threatening to really sock it to the world’s economy sometime in the not too distant future.  The problems that lead to the great recession are back and bigger than before.  Yep, that’s right; the very same types of hedge plays and derivatives with tranches and leveraged angles that only bankers could understand are being played with gusto; and never before at any time in Wall Street history have the players made so much cash. 

Hail to the Occupy Wall Street movement.  The people protesting in the parks, the streets, and everywhere else sense something is going on that is unfair and a little rotten.  They may not have a coherent message yet, but they have brought some attention to growing disparities in wealth where the very rich have more than they have ever had, while middle class citizens struggle to pay last month’s bills and put food on the table. 

The economy of the United States is a mess now because of the greed on the Street, but the Streeters are not recalcitrant; instead, they are paying lobbyists to strike down any regulation on their extraordinarily complicated banking transactions.  Dodd/Frank, a bill to end the abuses of the financial community is consistently delayed, with many, (mainly Republicans), trying to defeat the bill completely.  How sad is it that the congress is at war with an American public in regards to safe banking practices.  Ronald Reagan himself would be appalled.   

Much more to come on this topic!