The media seem to think that Occupy Wall Street has no message. The conservative right seem to think that Occupy Wall Street are just a bunch of lazy, smelly, hippies. The media and the right-wing are both wrong.
Here are citizens are among the 99% with their message:
A College Professor
A Veteran
Are you with the 99%? If not, here is why you should be.
The truth is that we’re in this mess because we had too little regulation, not too much. And now one of our two major parties is determined to double down on the mistakes that caused the disaster.
Even though the 30-year-old Hyde Amendment already bans taxpayer dollars from being spent on abortions, and numerous “conscience clauses” allow doctors and health care professionals to refuse to perform them, Republicans have insisted that more stringent measures are necessary to ensure, in the words of Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), “that no taxpayer dollars flow to health care plans that cover abortion and no health care worker has to participate in abortions against their will.”
In their latest assault on women’s health, this week House Republicans passed the HR 358, the ironically titled “Protect Life Act.” Opponents have rechristened the measure the “Let Women Die” bill because it would allow hospitals that receive federal funds to turn away a woman seeking an abortion in all circumstances, even if an abortion is necessary to save her life.
On the House floor, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) explained why she believed “The Protect Life Act” was a step backward for women’s reproductive rights. On the other side Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) denied that this bill that would allow hospitals to refuse treatment to pregnant women was misogynist, adding that “nobody has ever fought more for the rights of women than I have.”
WATCH:
Who is Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) ?
In 2009, Rep. Virginia Foxx announced that “there are no Americans who don’t have healthcare“. Recently in 2011, Rep. Foxx introduced an amendment to a House spending bill to cut breast-feeding support funds for low-income women who never learned how to breast-feed. In the past six years, Foxx has voted against abortion rights at least nine times.
Foxx probably believes her claim that she is fighting for women's rights, because she believes that “abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” But in her push to remove choice, she is also doing a great disservice to not only women but to humanity. In her zeal to protect a life she will ultimately cause the death of many women.
Who's right? Rep. Foxx may be on the political right of the issues, but she on the wrong side of protecting the rights or the life of a woman!
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) commenting on Occupy Wall Street says focusing pressure on Wall Street is now the right thing to do for sweeping Wall Street reform. "We have six financial institutions , the largest six banks in the country, who control 60% of the assests of the United Sates of America. After we bailed them out, because they were too big to fail, then three out of the four financial institutions actually became bigger." WATCH:
The Occupy Wall Street protests are shining a national spotlight on the most powerful, dangerous, and secretive economic and political force in America.
If this country is to break out of the horrendous recession and create the millions of jobs we desperately need, if we are going to create a modicum of financial stability for the future, there is no question but that the American people are going to have to take a very hard look at Wall Street and demand fundamental reforms. I hope these protests are the beginning of that process.
Let us never forget that as a result of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street, this country was plunged into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, and life savings as the middle class underwent an unprecedented collapse. Sadly, despite all the suffering caused by Wall Street, there is no reason to believe that the major financial institutions have changed their ways, or that future financial disasters and bailouts will not happen again.
More than three years ago, Congress rewarded Wall Street with the biggest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. Simultaneously but unknown to the American people at the time, the Federal Reserve provided an even larger bailout. The details of what the Fed did were kept secret until a provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that I sponsored required the Government Accountability Office to audit the Fed's lending programs during the financial crisis.
As a result of this audit, the American people have learned that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in low-interest loans to every major financial institution in this country, huge foreign banks, multi-national corporations, and some of the wealthiest people in the world.
In other words, when Wall Street was on the verge of collapse, the federal government acted boldly, aggressively, and with a fierce sense of urgency to save our financial system from collapse with no strings attached.
Now that the middle class is collapsing and a record-breaking 46 million Americans are living in poverty, the Federal Reserve has failed to act with the same sense of urgency to make sure that small businesses receive the affordable loans needed to put millions of Americans back to work and prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes.
As a result, Wall Street is back to making record-breaking profits, handing out record-breaking compensation packages, and taking the same risks that caused the financial crisis in the first place. Meanwhile, 25 million Americans are unemployed or under-employed; middle class families are making $3,600 less than they did ten years ago; the foreclosure rate is still breaking new records; and the American people are still paying over $3.40 for a gallon of gas.
The financial crisis and the jobs crisis have demonstrated to the American people that we now have a government that is of the 1 percent, by the 1 percent and for the 1 percent, as Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz eloquently articulated. The rest of the 99 percent are, more or less, on their own. We now have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major, advanced country on earth. The top one percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent and the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
Now that Occupy Wall Street is shining a spotlight against Wall Street greed and the enormous inequalities that exist in America, the question then becomes, how do we change the political, economic and financial system to work for all Americans, not just the top 1 percent?
Here are several proposals that I am working on:
If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. Today, the six largest financial institutions have assets equal to more than 60 percent of GDP. The four largest banks in this country issue two-thirds of all credit cards, half of all mortgages, and hold nearly 40 percent of all bank deposits. Incredibly, after we bailed out these big banks because they were "too big to fail," three out of the four largest are now even bigger than they were before the financial crisis began. It is time to take a page from Teddy Roosevelt and break up these behemoths so that their failure will no longer lead to economic catastrophe and to create competition in our financial system.
Put a cap on credit card interest rates to end usury. Today, more than a quarter of all credit card holders in this country are paying interest rates above 20 percent and as high as 59 percent. When credit card companies charge 25 or 30 percent interest rates they are not engaged in the business of "making credit available" to their customers. They are involved in extortion and loan-sharking. Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase should not be permitted to charge consumers 25-30 percent interest on their credit cards, especially while these banks received over $4 trillion in loans from the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks. During the financial crisis, the Federal Reserve provided hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks and corporations including the Arab Banking Corporation, Toyota, Mitsubishi, the Korea Development Bank, and the state-owned Bank of Bavaria. At a time when small businesses can't get the lending they need, it is time for the Fed to create millions of American jobs by providing low-interest loans directly to small businesses.
Stop Wall Street oil speculators from artificially increasing gasoline and heating oil prices. Right now, the American people are being gouged at the gas pump by speculators on Wall Street who are buying and selling billions of barrels of oil in the energy futures market with no intention of using a drop for any purpose other than to make a quick buck. Delta Airlines, Exxon Mobil, the American Trucking Association, and other energy experts have estimated that excessive oil speculation is driving up oil prices by as much as 40 percent. We have got to end excessive oil speculation and bring needed relief to American consumers.
Demand that Wall Street invest in the job-creating productive economy, instead of gambling on worthless derivatives. The American people have got to make it crystal clear to Wall Street that the era of excessive speculation is over. The "heads, bankers win; tails, everyone else loses" financial system must end. Most important, we need to create a new Wall Street that exists not to reward CEOs and investors for the bets they make on exotic financial instruments nobody understands. Rather, we need a Wall Street that provides financial services to small businesses and manufacturers to create decent-paying jobs and grow the economy by productive means. Think of all of the productive short- and long-term investments that could be made in our country right now if Wall Street used the money it has received from the federal government wisely. Instead of casino-style speculation, Wall Street could invest in high-speed trains; fuel-efficient cars; wind turbines and other alternative energy sources; affordable housing; affordable prescription drugs that save people's lives; and other things that America desperately needs. That is what we have got to demand from Wall Street.
Establish a Wall Street speculation fee on credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures. Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed and recklessness on Wall Street. Establishing a speculation fee would reduce gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy, and significantly reduce the deficit without harming average Americans. There are a number of precedents for this. The U.S had a similar Wall Street speculation fee from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 levied a 0.2 percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled that tax to help finance the government during the Great Depression. And today, England has a financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested.
Making these reforms will not be easy. After all, Wall Street is clearly the most powerful lobbying force on Capitol Hill. From 1998 through 2008, the financial sector spent over $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions to deregulate Wall Street. More recently, they spent hundreds of millions more to make the Dodd-Frank bill as weak as possible, and after its passage, hundreds of millions more to roll back or diluter the stronger provisions in that legislation.
Reform of Wall Street will benefit all of the 99% of the U.S. citizens and therefore we should all be in unison on this message.
The mainstream media has given the Occupy Wall Street protest limited exposure. But the information coming from MSM would have you believe that the occupation is made solely of kids and hippies. Think again. WATCH:
Although many in the Occupy Wall Street movement do not want political support for their protest, many Democratic politicians have shown some solidarity with the protestors.
Which Democratic lawmakers have begun to embrace the Occupy Wall Street protestors?
Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) stated in ajoint statement:
"We share the anger and frustration of so many Americans who have seen the enormous toll that an unchecked Wall Street has taken on the overwhelming majority of Americans while benefiting the super-wealthy. We join the calls for corporate accountability and expanded middle-class opportunity."
House Democrat, Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.), released a statement:
"The silent masses aren't so silent anymore. They are fighting to give voice to the struggles that everyday Americans are going through."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), stated:
"I applaud those protesters who are out there, who are focusing attention on Wall Street, but what we've got to do is put meat on that bone. We've got to make demands on Wall Street [and] break those institutions up."
Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have also applauded the movement.
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a leader in both the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Back Caucus, said:
"All of us should join that movement."
The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, was asked about the protests during his appearance before the Joint Economic Committee on Tuesday.
"I would just say very generally, I think people are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what's happening," Bernanke said. "They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they're dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington. And at some level, I can't blame them."
And a sole Republican has come out indicating that he sympathized with the protesters. Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), an outspoken Republican critic of the Federal Reserve, stated
“If they were demonstrating peacefully, and making a point, and arguing our case, and drawing attention to the Fed — I would say, good!
Occupy Wall Street is about ending corporate greed, getting jobs, building back the middle class and keeping the American dream alive. This is a national message that should not be limited to political divisiveness or ideology.We are the 99% and we are gaining strength!
2009: Congressional Democrats unveil several domestic policy initiatives -- including health care reform, cap and trade, DREAM Act -- which would lower the deficit. GOP opposes all of them, while continuing to push for deficit reduction.
September 2010: In Obama's first fiscal year, the deficit shrinks by $122 billion. Republicans again condemn Obama's fiscal irresponsibility.
October 2010: S&P endorses the nation's AAA rating with a stable outlook, saying the United States looks to be in solid fiscal shape for the foreseeable future.
November 2010: Republicans win a U.S. House majority, citing the need for fiscal responsibility.
December 2010: Congressional Republicans demand extension of Bush tax cuts, relying entirely on deficit financing. GOP continues to accuse Obama of fiscal irresponsibility.
March 2011: Congressional Republicans declare intention to hold full faith and credit of the United States hostage -- a move without precedent in American history -- until massive debt-reduction plan is approved.
July 2011: Obama offers Republicans a $4 trillion debt-reduction deal. GOP refuses, pushes debt-ceiling standoff until the last possible day, rattling international markets.
August 2011: S&P downgrades U.S. debt, citing GOP refusal to consider new revenues. Republicans rejoice and blame Obama for fiscal irresponsibility.
