Commentary: On #OccupyWallStreet Anger

By Eileen Kennedy Boisseau
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut
11 October 2011

Commentary on "Occupy Wall Street: What Are They So Angry About?" Huff Post, October 9, 2011

That’s a good question and it seems it has been taking a little while to define the answers, but if we sit back and listen, we can hear the message.  I liked the opening statement that clearly defines the frustration level that those Occupying Wall Street are at: “they are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore”.  In fact as the article brings out, a great many of us are disgusted with the economic challenges most of us – yes, I’d have to say 99 percent of us are experiencing.

I think Occupiers on Wall Street is providing visibility and effectively speaking out  against  the outrageous greed of many of the Wall Street banks and big businesses.  According to this article and a quote from Clinton, there are “20 million people officially out of work”, not including the unofficial number which brings it even higher, and that is staggering.  As Ben Bernanke states, this would qualify as a “national crisis”.  This would also explain the outraged numbers of people squatting at Wall Street and the countless more nationwide.

I appreciated both the short and longer histories that Monika Mitchell included in this article to remind us in understanding or reminding us how we got here.   After the 2008 Wall Street crash, the government provided the Toxic Asset Relief Program in the hopes of saving the banks and infusing them with the funding to turn around and provide reasonable loans to the American people. Instead, they held onto those funds and by doing so, further crippled the economy.  And it’s taking a long time to find accountability; if we ever can accomplish that fully.

So, the government is broke and wants to now draw off the hard-working people futures by underfunding Social Security.  It gets more and more outrageous and intolerable.

The longer history recalls the American people’s democratic spirit and resolve to create the land of equal opportunity culminating in the American Revolution over 200 years ago. I liked Ms. Mitchell’s quote related to that: “desperate people do desperate things”, and another from Janis Joplin “freedom’s just another work for nothing left to lose." The activists of OWS are basically saying just that, because they have no jobs to lose.

There was some defense in this article about Wall Street not being entirely at fault.  The mortgage securities market is blamed; but I contend that had the bankers or government securities regulation been monitoring them, this recession could have been avoided.  So now as the leaders of the “private equity firms and hedge funds” recognize, due to the lack of “capital and credit…”, “everyone is sitting on cash”.   So funds are apparently stuck at the top and simply put, need to get unstuck.

Discussions need to happen soon and I think the “Occupying Wall Street” movement is the “in your face, I’m not going anywhere until that happens” catalyst that just might be bring that to fruition. We need to bridge the gap between the 1 percent and the 99 percent. We can reshape democracy and make it more equitable.  We can be imaginative and create more workable solutions if we keep an open mind, and keep in mind that we all need to take more responsibility for each other in this local and in the national community.