You've heard of a sacred cow, right? Only in America do we have a sacred bull -- a bronze idol to the false gods of Merrill Lynch and assorted other bankster racketeers. It's arguably outrageous enough that there's an official monument to these rodeo clowns on one of the most famous streets in America (Broadway, just off of Wall Street), a place that was once known as "The Canyon of Heroes" where people who actually contributed to the betterment of America were honored with ticker-tape parades. But it's more outrageous that the taxpayers of New York City are being charged God knows how much in police overtime to "defend" this graven image of Wall Street avarice
Kind of like how two straight administrations -- one Republican and one Democratic -- have worked overtime to protect the banksters from any criminal penalties for their crimes.
Right now, a small band of protestors -- it was several hundred to as many as 1,000 people on Saturday, probably less than that now -- are camped out near the center of American finance, part of a fairly spontaneous, social-media organized protest ( #occupywallstreet , among other Twitter hashtags ) aimed at going all Tahrir Square on Lower Manhattan. I don't think I'm going out on a huge limb to predict that they won't succeed -- not this time, not yet. I know we're all in love with the power of Twitter and all that, but the truth is that the Tea Party was able to get big (big, but not huge) crowds for its earlier protests because it had a national TV network, Fox News, mainstream conservative pols like Rick Perry and billionaires like the Koch Brothers promoting it. A left-wing protest isn't going to have that, especially not with the cowardly scared chickens of the Democratic Party clucking their way to the 2012 slaughterhouse.
The good news/bad news is that there's a pool of about 25 million unemployed and under-employed Americans from which to draw potential Wall Street occupiers, and the worse things get (just wait until the Boehner-Obama austerity program kicks in), the more likely that you'll see an American Winter take the ball from the Arab Spring.
I'll be pulling for 'em.
I was in that area on Saturday, Maybe 200. Maybe. Mostly the usual motely looking crew of losers.— georgel- You hippies are barking at the mail man. — CleanupPhilly
- I've been talking to a lot of people who were there. Cops wouldn't let them onto Wall Street. So much for the right to assemble, especially on an off day.— HandNik
Comment removed.- Obama reveived 70% of the money from Wall Street giants that they gave in 2008. Guys like GE's( paid zero taxes) Jeff Imelt, appointed as a "jobs guru".....is closing several divisions of GE and moving them to China. Obama is Warren Buffet's buddy. Huge number of CEO's and other Wall Street guys are in bed with Obama and dems.....why? Cronyism. Solyndra, the failed Solar Co....the bean counters knew it would fail from the beginning. Even pegged the date, but Obama and Dems poured a half billion of taxparer money into it...and one of he private (Dem) backers was put ahead of the public if defaut happened. So....this is the party of the working man? Hell NO!!!!
You must have been asleep, in prison or freeze dried for these last three years if you think Obama isn't up to his ears in Wall Street Corruption and dirty money deals.— Alfred-King of Wessex - "Republicans and Democrats...not a dimes worth of difference between the two".
George Wallace was 100% correct.— oakster - The misguided fools. Its the Will Bunch's of this land that lead these nitwits into thinking the US is a horrid place to live. They cry about abuses from corporations all the while happily texting on their $300 APPLE iPhones with their $120 AT&T monthly plans. Hypocrites? I'd say so. Comparing Syria, Egypt, etc. to the US is an insult to the sacrifices those protestors made. The people staying in NY right now are the self-loathing, trust-fund hipsters and those unfortunate who did plan ahead for their disappointing, empty ride home. Wall Street isn't the problem, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is.— psyrus
- //They cry about abuses from corporations all the while happily texting on their $300 APPLE iPhones with their $120 AT&T monthly plans. Hypocrites? I'd say so.///
Why would that example be hypocritical? It would only really be hypocritical if the "nitwits" complained about Apple or AT&T specifically. Complaining about corporate behavior doesn't preclude one from using a product made by a corporation. Absolutism is not a good foundation for a discussion. - Bunch...if left wing loons do not like the folks on Wall Street, then they should not give them their money. Wall Street can only function when other folks provide them the funding to do so...— kelprod2
- Shouldn't they replace that bronze bull with a bronze bear?— Miss Bunny
- Bunch and all of the lefties seem to still not get what a market is. Wall Street is a market place. It doesn't have a leader. It doesn't have a mind. It isn't a person. There's no cabal or dictator or oligarchy. It really is just a market where trades happen, millions a day sometimes, and it can go up or down.
Politicians can influence it, but not control it. Often politicians influence it without meaning to, as we've seen recently. What are the protesters protesting? What do they wish the market to do? Fraud in the market place should be prosecuted, of course. It should be harder to commit fraud, and easier to prosecute. Other than that, where is the man behind the curtain? Where is the demon child?
What controls do they want to see back? Glass-Steagall which was removed during Clinton? Somehow deregulation is the province of the right, but that is not accurate.
Wall Street didn't "do" anything to the "little man" that the "little man" didn't sign up for. Americans spent like mad, government spent like mad, now the markets are contracting. I don't think stamping your foot and saying "You mean market!" is going to help anyone get a job or avoid foreclosure. It's like barking at the mailman.— CleanupPhilly - Comment removed.
- Even by their usual standards, psyrus and kelprod2 make even more foolish comments than normal.— PhillyGuy77
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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