Last weekend thousands of demonstrators marched on Wall Street to protest economic inequality in America. However, most Americans were likely unaware of the protests since they were largely ignored by every major media outlet. On what was a relatively slow weekend for news, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all devoted significant coverage to other stories including an air show crash in Reno. While the death of nine spectators at the Reno event was certainly worthy of some attention, the demand for Wall Street reform, which affects millions in poverty, would arguably warrant as much coverage given the size of the protests. In 2009 and 2010 Tea Party demonstrations numbering in the hundreds would routinely receive national coverage when protesting against “death panels” the dangers of “socialism” through government-run health care.
The thousands who gathered as part of a campaign called “Occupy Wall Street” can be seen in the video to the left. The news clip comes from an outlet called Russia Today America. Foreign media outlets actually devoted more coverage to a protest in the middle of New York City than American media outlets. The protesters intend to engage in long-term civil disobedience in order to demand accountability for misdeeds by the financial firms and call for structural economic reforms.
Since the 2008 financial crisis zero Wall Street executives have been indicted for any crimes despite the loss of trillions of dollars in value through questionable accounting practices. In the end the American government, using taxpayer funds, was forced to intervene with the now-infamous “bailout” program that saved the financial industry and American economy from collapse. Many Wall Street executives, including those at unsuccessful firms like AIG and Lehman Brothers, received significant bonuses even after their businesses lost billions.
Income inequality has also become an increasing problem in America over the last three decades. Since 1980 America’s GDP has more than doubled, but the average worker’s wages have stayed flat when accounting for inflation. Meanwhile, the richest 1% of Americans have seen their income more than triple over the same time period. The top 1% of Americans now own over 40% of the wealth in the country. The top 20% of Americans now own over 85% of the wealth, and earn approximately 60% of the income.
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