Sacco 1 Sara Sacco Professor Hazzard ENC1102 Research Essay December 6, 2011

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations introduced by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park of New York City's Wall Street financial district. The protests are against social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, as well as corruption, and the excessive influence of corporations, particularly, that of the financial services sector on government. The protesters' slogan We are the 99% refers to the growing difference in wealth in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population. Support for the OWS movement is growing rapidly, as protesters across the United States and around the world make a ruckus about the uneven distribution of wealth and the way the rich use their money to make more money. The American dream is turning into a nightmare, with disheartening levels of inequality, unemployment and homelessness. Capitalism is facing unprecedented challenges as OWS protestors are resilient in trying to regain their jobs and economic fairness. OWS is not just for the labor movement, but for everyone who is frustrated and worried about the growing economic disparity in this country. It's for anyone who has ever agonized about finding a job, paying for college, meeting a mortgage payment, or how to buy food for dinner. Support for the "Occupy Wall Street" movement is growing rapidly, as protesters across the United States and around the world make a ruckus about the uneven distribution of wealth and the way the rich use their money to make more money.

Sacco 2 Target No. 1 in the protests is the epitome of capitalism: the banking industry, and the governments that bailed out the banks with taxpayers' money during the last financial crisis. The protesters began to occupy Zuccotti Park at the end of Wall Street and are in the 80th day of protesting. Despite New York City government efforts to cease and desist the protest camp, the protesters will not leave. Instead, protestors have defied the bitter cold NYC weather and they began to pitch tents and tarps and brought in large cardboard boxes. Using jackets and blankets donated by supporters, they held out in the snowstorm, even as temperatures fell to five degrees below zero. Surrounded on all sides by towering skyscrapers, Zuccotti Park, the heart of the "Occupy" movement, all of a sudden took on a whole new look. Located in the midst of New York's bustling financial district in lower Manhattan, the park is actually a stone-paved plaza with plenty of benches and trees. Usually, it is a popular park where Wall Street employees relax during a quick lunch break. Now, however, a tent city has sprung up populated by jobless people and other protesters. Official figures put the U. S. unemployment rate at 9 percent, which is already a 30-year high. This means that 14 million people in the U. S. are out of work. Real unemployment, however, is much worse than the official figures suggest. If the numbers also account for those who work part-time because they can't find full-time jobs and those who have given up looking for work altogether, the unemployment rate soars to 15 percent. Running out of options, millions of Americans who have lost their homes and jobs are shouldering their few remaining belongings and camping out in parking lots, under bridges and highway overpasses. "Tent cities" keep popping up across the country from California to Florida and glamorous New York in what could be called one of the biggest "new town movements" in American history.

Sacco 3 The data below are from the Issues and Controversies article Occupy Wall Street (November 21, 2011) Occupy Wall Street Approximate percentage of all U.S. income going to the top 1% of earners in 1915 Approximate percentage of all U.S. income going to the top 1% of earners in 2007 15 25

Approximate percentage of all U.S. wealth belonging to the top 1% 40 in 2007 Approximate cost of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Approximate highest U.S. unemployment rate in 2009 Approximate cost of economic stimulus promoted by President Obama in 2009 Approximate number of protesters arrested by New York City police while clearing Zuccotti Park in November 2011 Approximate number of protesters arrested by New York City police on Brooklyn Bridge in October 2011 $700 billion 10% $1 trillion 200 700

The top 1 percent of income earners have more than doubled their income over the last thirty years according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report. The report was released just as concerns of the Occupy Wall Street movement were beginning to enter the national political debate. According to the CBO, between 1979 and 2007 the incomes of the top 1% of Americans grew by an average of 275%. During the same time period, the 60% of Americans in the middle of the income scale saw their income rise by 40%. Since 1979 the average pre-tax income for the bottom 90% of households has decreased by $900, while that of the top 1% increased by over $700,000, as federal taxation became less progressive. From 1992-2007 the top 400 income earners in the U.S. saw their income increase 392% and their average tax rate reduced by 37%. In 2009, the average income of the top 1% was $960,000 with a minimum income of $343,927.

Sacco 4 Supporters of OWS say that, far from opposing capitalism, as critics say they do, protesters wish to restore the equality and fairness in the U.S.'s free-market system. New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof argues that, in light of bailouts of failing banks and a bias say in the political system, financiers have adopted a platform of "socialism for tycoons and capitalism for the rest of us." Kristof argues, "While alarmists seem to think that the movement is a 'mob' trying to overthrow capitalism, one can make a case that, on the contrary, it highlights the need to restore basic capitalist principles like accountability." In the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, police in New York City raided Zuccotti Park, clearing it of protesters and arresting about 200 people in the process. The city claimed that the continued presence of the protesters had put public safety at risk and presented a fire hazard. Members of the OWS movement attempted to find a different location in which to gather and said they would be legally challenging the city's right to have them removed. It was later announced that the city would allow gatherings in the park but would no longer permit protesters to setup tents or remain there overnight. While it is unclear what the future holds for OWS, some observers already believe that the protests have changed the focus of political discussions in the U.S. OWS followers note that, during the summer of 2011, newscasts and politicians mostly discussed the budget deficit and national debt; by the fall, they say, their attention has been turned to the unemployment rate and income inequality. Therefore, OWS has had its impact on social awareness around the entire globe and has represented a concrete understanding of people's frustrations. The economy is not producing jobs like we need and there's a huge loss of confidence in American government and frankly, under the First Amendment, we the people have the right to speak out.

Sacco 5 Citation: "By the Numbers: Occupy Wall Street." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.2facts.com/article/in162201 Jones, Jeffrey M. "Most Americans Uncertain About 'Occupy Wall Street' Goals; Majority also lack an opinion about the way the protests are being conducted." Gallup Poll News Service (2011). Academic OneFile. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. Document URL: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA271008092&v=2.1&u=gale15691&it=r&p =AONE&sw=w

"Occupy Wall Street." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. http://www.2facts.com/article/i1600620

Winship, Scott. "Mobility Impaired." National Review, November 14, 2011,

www.nationalreview.com.

Kristof, Nicholas. "Crony Capitalism Comes Home." New York Times, October 26, 2011,
www.nytimes.com.

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/income/default.htm http://www.nycga.net/ http://www.adbusters.org/ http://www.occupywallstreet.org/

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