OWS we are the 99 percent - the occupy Wall Street movement

These quotes are from this article by blogger Brian Flynn:

"From the tea party to the Arab Spring to the London riots to Occupy Wall Street, the age of anger is now in full gear. Anger looks to be a natural human response to prolonged and accelerated adversity."

"As Aristotle taught us: Anyone can be angry -- that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way -- that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy."

My reaction:

It is difficult in our complicated times to feel properly targeted anger. Because our political and economic "leadership" are very skilled at subtly passing the blame. No one stands up and takes responsibility for anything. So who should be held accountable? Who caused what? That giant ugly slippery gray area is a large part of why today's protesters want to throw the whole system out. We are mad at everyone in power who made the rich richer while sticking all the rest of us with the bill. And we are mad at everyone else in power who stood by and let it happen.

(Image used with permission. Click the picture to visit original source.)

Lindsay Owens, a contributing author to the new book, "The Great Recession" shares the following in a CNN article

''The percent of Americans with a great deal of confidence in the people running Wall Street had already reached an all-time low of just 4 percent by February of 2009. These figures are not just a reflection of Americans' dissatisfaction with the size of their bank accounts - they also reflect the increasing belief that Wall Street is playing a game that only the bankers can win."

My reaction:

Wall Street admittedly created, packaged and traded financial "products" that NO ONE understood. Not even the people trading them. Derivative, off shoot, chopped and repackaged, high-risk nonsense products. All designed for the singular purpose of turning a profit for greedy people. I think most average folks like me have trouble understanding what value Wall Street brings to our society. It seems like fancy gambling. And you have to wonder if there isn't a more productive way to finance businesses.

Wall Street just seems like a greedy pig rolling around in a pen filled with dirty money. And that is distasteful enough. But then when you consider the gigantic sums we spent as a nation to bail them out, it is no wonder people are screaming and shouting.

This movement is about more than anger and suffering, though. There is hope behind the protests. There is longing for a society centered around deeper ideals. You do not hear participants speaking or writing about wanting to go back to the 1980's or 1990's. No one seems interested in returning to excess and wastefulness. It is as if this time is a much needed forest fire burning away old tall dead wood so that new ideas can get some light. The special interests got too special. And there is a freedom, a power, that comes with being so destitute. With having nothing left to lose. We can call out those special interests and hold them accountable because we are no longer beholden. They stopped being useful when they laid us all off and took our homes and left us with no medical insurance. They stopped being relevant when they decided re-election was more important than doing the real work of serving our country.