After 90 days of blogging about what is motivating Occupy Wall Street protesters, it is so obvious when you look around to see why they formed this movement. Over three years after a likely unconstitutional bailout of the banks to stop a stock market crash that caused massive job losses, the recovery has been too slow and painful for too many.
These protests started right near Wall Street, home to the Nation’s biggest banks, the protesters’ first primary target. They have driven the financial sector to be a greater share of the economy than before the crisis. Top executives at the biggest banks, like JP Morgan, make over $10 million per year with huge bonuses. They make huge profits exploiting workers, often pressuring them to sell high-risk loans that may not be in their customers’ best interests. Even as they lay off workers and cancel Christmas parties, their compensation for their services is at an all-time high. Their CEOs still get paid well when their companies’ stocks tank. When they retire, they get huge golden parachutes on top of millions they got from their work. They did not pay attention to what was happening as one banking giant that lent money to homebuyers for mortgages completely ignored the warning signs of a housing crisis from mounting foreclosures, which were often done illegally. Their practices and their constant pursuit of the highest possible short-term profits also infect America’s biggest multi-national corporations, who offshore American jobs to boost their own profits. Because of their hunger for profit, some of them even go so far to re-open closed accounts on any activity.
The extensive damage the banks have done is everywhere. The U.S. Census shows half of all Americans are poor or of low income and are running out of affordable housing options. The country is segregating into wealthy enclaves and deteriorating cities like Detroit, where essential middle-class public servants face 10% wage cuts. The middle class is dismayed to learn they would be making thousands more right now if all the fraud around them did not happen. Luxury goods sell very well as the top 1% spends their money. These very well-off people avoid the spotlight, are not relatively as charitable, and want to slash government spending of any kind, including social services that benefit everyone else. Like never before, unemployment has been so high for so long that the workforce shrinks as middle class workers more often get temporary blue collar jobs between periods of unemployment that trap them into permanent poverty. For example, internet shopping sites treat middle class workers poorly with low pay, no healthcare benefits, and few breaks as they work during the holiday season. It leaves them so depressed that they need anti-depressants. It takes a skier’s death to highlight the problem of healthcare coverage. As 75% of people live in states without affordable healthcare, it is getting harder to see a doctor, some of whom are going broke. But they need to see one before something happens to them causing medical bills high enough to force them into bankruptcy. They need education to improve employment prospects but tuition is rising so fast that soon it will only be affordable to the Wealthy. As community colleges lose funding and cut back on their courses, they have to go to predatory for-profit schools that treat their executives to lavish retreats. These schools leave them with a lot of debt, but no job to pay it off.
Even worse, the Government has done too little to stop the corruption going on. After supposedly voting for “Hope and Change” when the crisis spiraled out of control in late 2008, these protesters are now very disappointed with the performance of the man they voted for, President Obama, who now believes the economic fix will take years. Yet, he still holds a strong electoral vote advantage over a weak GOP field. His Administration has not punished bankers for the damage they done as none of the bankers from the biggest banks have been sentenced to jail. His SEC has instead gone after low-level bankers and was criticized by federal judges for weak settlements. Obama also touted natural gas fracking as Americans protested it.
But, when they look at the ideas offered by Obama’s GOP challengers and their backgrounds, they are downright terrified. When they notice the actions of Mitt Romney, the GOP nominee with the best chance to beat Obama, they get angry. Romney thinks $10,000 is a small amount of money and made a bet in this amount in a debate with another Presidential candidate. He thinks only the Wealthy should run for office, hosts policy roundtables with them only, and does not seem to care about the poor. His tax plan only benefits the Wealthy compared to current tax rates, but is the least generous to the Wealthy among GOP candidates. He recently revised disclosures on his overseas funds that comprise much of his wealth, which he attained through many tax breaks and subsidies. He pays a lower tax rate than most Americans and can postpone his tax payments for decades. One of his top rivals, Newt Gingrich, is backed by Sheldon Adelson, who made nearly $7 billion in 2011 income. In their debates, they do not discuss George W. Bush, the last GOP President whose Administration who ran up much of the debt with wars and tax cuts for the richest Americans. Romney’s GOP friends in Congress are just as bad as they have historically held legislation to benefit the public good captive to their demands. One of them, Eric Cantor wants to enact further social spending cuts while preserving defense spending. Cantor also wants to weaken a proposed law to ban Congressional insider trading, which sending their incomes far above that of their constituents’. Another, John Boehner has pushed the environmentally dangerous Keystone XL Pipeline while investing in oil companies that will benefit from it. Congress has also sought to gut reforms to regulate swap trades. One of them even berated a constituent and told her to join the military when she questioned him. When Congress does not listen, that explains why they occupy.
No comments:
Post a Comment