It didn't happen. The Occupy Wall Street protest didn't go away. It's still there, getting bigger and bigger, like Michael Moore. In fact, it has grown into an international phenomenon. It has grown from a protest to a movement.
Labor has joined the fight. On Sunday, an interfaith coalition of religious leaders showed their support. Both groups have not just offered moral support. They've offered tangible support. Now you have the Democrats cautiously dipping their toes in the water and the Republicans are spewing every negative description they can think of. And as this is being written, Bloomberg said they can stay as long as they like.
There are criticisms that can be made about the protest that has become a movement, but most of the criticism we hear comes from the right wing which sees its agenda of free money for the rich being threatened. Republican presidential candidate, Herman Cain said the protesters are “jealous” and playing, “the victim card" and want to "take somebody else’s Cadillac.” Funny, I pictured Cain as more of Lincoln guy.
Eric Cantor called them a “mob” and Michelle Bachmann, well... why should she get a clue now? I won't go so far as to say they're frightened, but they are worried. Whereas earlier they dismissed the protest as a bunch of dirty hippies, they are now trotting out the old derisive chestnuts and spending time talking about them.
If there is any doubt as to how people are now paying attention, Al Sharpton did his radio show from the park on Sunday.
Why is it that the biggest capitalists seem to be the biggest recipients and supporters of what they deridingly call “socialism?” Depending on whose figures you use, the biggest and most profitable corporations get tax breaks and other subsidies that total anywhere from hundreds of millions to billions a year.
Corporations' biggest boosters, the Republicans, are fond of the “bootstrap” analogy for poor people, but sing a different tune when it comes to their financial benefactors. The fight like hell to either dole out or maintain welfare to corporations.
In March of this year, House Democrats offered up a bill that would take away tax subsidies from oil companies. It was defeated and every single Republican voted against it. Between 2005-2009, the biggest oil companies made a combined 485 billion dollars in profits.
Now we come back to Wall Street, the belly of the beast. How do banks and Wall Street help our economy? Do they make things? Do they have a physical product that you can go into a store and purchase?
Wall Street is legalized gambling and the house always wins. It's a beauty of a con. They bet with other people's money. When the bets go bad, the shareholders lose their bets, while the house scoops up its vig and stuffs it in their pockets. It's all perfectly legal. They personally shoulder no risk. Your chances are better betting on football with a bookie. For one, no bookie ever went broke and when you win, he loses. It's a lot more honest, but not legal.
In the meantime, NY State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued his annual report on the securities industry and he said, “It now seems likely that profits will fall sharply, job losses will continue, and bonuses will be smaller than last year.”
“Profits will fall sharply” coupled with “job losses will continue.” What is wrong with this picture? It's the way greedy capitalism works. Companies will still make profits but will jettison workers because, well, they didn't make enough money. It's sort of like the way they describe losses. A loss doesn't really mean they lost money, just that they didn't make as much this quarter as they did last quarter.
For the 99%, a loss is just that, a loss. It puts you in the negative column.
Actions to rein in and heavily regulate the destructive practices that caused the financial meltdown have been consistently rebuffed by Republicans. And, Obama hasn't been tough enough in trying to ram these changes through.
Now, let's go local and look at NYC. While our budget is strained and Bloomberg is laying off teachers, and closing firehouses, corporate real estate interests are getting tax breaks that amount to $500 million a year to build high end condos and luxury apartments.
According to Good Jobs New York database , other corporations and banks have received sweetheart deals from Bloomberg. In 2004, Bank of America received $42 million in tax breaks from NYC and NY State.
So, what about Herman Cain's snide remark about jealousy? He's right. He's right that 99% of Americans are jealous that the deck is stacked against them. All the people are asking for is a fair shake; a level playing field.
And what about fairness? Capitalism has no conscience, but capitalists should. How much money is enough? What happened to giving something back? The free marketeers would have you believe that a company is only beholden to their shareholders and bottom line; not their workers or the country that made it possible for them to gain their wealth.
Having a conscience and a sense of fairness aren't left or right wing values. They're human values.
The headline of this column says it all. On average, CEOs in this country make over 400 times what their workers do. Now compare this ratio with other countries we compete with in the global market:
- Brazil 57 to 1
- Mexico 45 to 1
- Hong Kong 38 to 1
- Britain 25 to 1
- Australia 22 to 1
- China 21 to 1
- Italy 19 to 1
- Spain 18 to 1
- France 16 to 1
- Taiwan 16 to 1
- Germany 11 to 1
- South Korea 11 to 1
- Japan 10 to 1
And it doesn't matter whether these CEOs are any good at their jobs. We have seen CEOs getting golden parachutes of millions of dollars for running their companies into the ground, including those involved in the sub prime debacle.
Countrywide Financial Corp had a net loss of $704 million in 2007 and let their CEO Angelo R. Mozilo go. He walked away with a $704 million dollar parachute. Countrywide laid off 11,000 workers between his ouster and January of 2008.
Citigroup’s former chairman and CEO Charles Prince retired in 2007 in the face of Citigroup's almost $20 billion dollar loss, mostly due to sub prime. His take? Including retirement package, shares, and options in Citi stock, he slithered away with around $40 billion.
So, yeah, Mr. Cain, we are jealous. Jealous that there are two sets of rules, one for the 1% and another for the 99%. And we're angry that while you and your Republican allies clamor for “merit-based” pay for teachers, you demand nothing of the sort from non/ under performing CEOs. We're jealous that if we robbed a bank, we'd go to jail, not get a million dollar severance package.
Oh and another thing, Mr. Cain, these people don't want other people's Cadillacs, they want their Priuses.
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