"Kurt Ullman" wrote in message
"Robert Green" wrote:


It seems very odd to dismiss the current, ever-growing OWS protests
because
they're allegedly so untidy. If that's the worst their critics can heap
on
them . . .

MUCH easier to dismiss them because they have no purpose or
suggestions for change. They are just sorta existing and getting upset
yet offering nothing to add to the debate.

The Tea Party was similarly amorphous in the beginning. However, I think
the point of the OWS protests is actually much more clear than the right
acknowledges. They believe that Wall St. has too much influence over
politics in the world, which I agree with. They believe that the average
wage earner has been taking it on the chin because of the unregulated credit
default swaps, over-leveraging and much more while Wall Streeters are raking
in multi-million dollar salaries and commissions.

I disagree strongly that they're not offering suggestions or that their main
objectives are unclear. They want to return to an era when Wall St. was far
more closely regulated. They want to see businesses that are too big to
fail broken up into pieces where failure doesn't require their tax dollars
for bailouts. Capping outrageous CEO salaries is on their agenda (and mine)
as well as returning the taxation of the super-wealthy that apparently has
only benefited them, not the common man.

If lowering taxes on the rich was such a super good thing for everyone, why
are so many non-Wall Streeters suffering? The Tea Party shot its load
during the mid-terms. The OWS folks are poised to make their impact at the
much more important 2012 elections. By then, I am sure that they will begin
to agree on the major points of reform needed. You know those damn
Democrats. If there's anything they excel at, it's organizing the common
man. As my journo prof said: The pendulum swings and it's swinging now.
Oddly enough, the Tea Party may even join in once they realize it wasn't the
government that screwed them, but the machinations of the Wall St. "titans"
that forced the government to bail them out.

Wall Street needs to return to being a place where capital is raised for
legitimate investments, not to give working people with 401K's "haircuts" by
flash trading, saddling companies that employ thousands of American workers
with so much debt that they go bankrupt and much, much more. If Wall Street
were functional, it would not have needed billions of dollars of taxpayer
money to right itself after the staggering events of 2008.

There's something wrong with our system and the OWS is starting to shine a
very bright light to find out where the problems are and what we can do to
fix them. The Volcker rule, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, huge
jail sentences for insider trading and many other changes are already afoot.
As the Mad Max movie said: "The dice are rolling, I can feel it." The Tea
Party barely gets any news coverage anymore while the coverage of OWS is
skyrocketing by comparison.

Even Bloomberg, the patron saint of Wall St. who used his enormous Wall St.
wealth to buy the NYC mayor's job, had to back down from clearing the park
because he eventually (with much help) realized that making them martyrs
would only accelerate the movement. That doesn't mean that other panicked
leaders won't provide the movement with a Kent State moment that catapults
the OWS into high gear.

The protesters know that while Wall St. salaries have rebounded quickly to
the stratosphere, the average worker is still losing ground. While the Tea
Party was a US animal, the OWS protests are now lighting up across the
world. There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear . .
.. but it will become clear in the coming months as leaders emerge and
strategies are decided upon.

One thing's for su as more people lose their houses and jobs, they are
much more likely to join the OWS instead of the Tea Party. I predict that
soon boycotts will start of companies that pay no US taxes or that have
CEO's that earn obscenely huge salaries. Once people discover that they can
have a serious effect on companies that are perceived as rapacious, there's
potentially no end to the OWS movement.

Wall Street will actually help the OWS when the stocks of such companies
start to fall on the perception that they won't be able to meet their sales
forecasts because of boycotts. Even die-hard conservatives will become
unintended "helpers" as they pull their money out of what they see as
"sinking ships" and accelerate the downward spiral. One thing's for sure.
Interesting times lie ahead.

The saddest part is that all Wall Streeters and the right can say is "they
are not very tidy" or "they are not very well-organized." It's roughly akin
to saying "that baby can't talk and poops in its diapers." Most movements
and children start out that way, but most eventually grow up. "Not tidy."
Talk about fiddling while Rome burns. One of the most telling signs I can
think of lately that a big change is coming was a Nationwide insurance
commercial I just saw that said: "We're a cooperative and NOT beholden to
Wall Street." America has found a new target to demonize, and if there's
anything Americans excel at, it's finding someone to blame for things. Will
Wall St. wake up in time and self-regulate? I don't think so. It's got
"anti-regulation" built into its DNA which could very well be its undoing.

--
Bobby G.