All Americans should read Paul B. Farrell’s MarketWatch article, “Occupy Wall Street will lay siege to U.S. greed.” He reports that as many as 20,000 protestors could occupy Wall Street on September 17, (interestingly a Saturday) and suggests that the number of protestors could grow to 90,000 or so if social media generates a flash mob.. The would-be occupiers, who identify themselves as “the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” say they will stay there until they get what they want, namely the elimination of Wall Street as “the greatest corrupter of our democracy.” Farrell points out that, before lightly dismissing this protest, Americans should remember that disenchanted revolutionaries have recently risen up in many other countries and even overthrown dictators.
Organizers have said that all they have to do is show up, block traffic and not turn violent. But mobs can get pretty ugly sometimes (consider London, for example). Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is warning Wall Street employees to be on guard.
The phenomenon seems to be worldwide. According to the article, “a massive show of solidarity” is pouring out of world financial centers in London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Farrell warns that this is no joke and “this is not a one-day rally.” While some may scoff, they ignore these protestors at their peril, he says. Farrell has apparently read the Occupy Wall Street materials and sees them as “a deeply frustrated, angry, fed up army of revolutionaries” who are “no longer interested in talk” and “want action.” Farrell warns that Wall Street should expect a siege that could last for months.
If Wall Street ends up under siege for months, in addition to the myriad other problems affecting the economy and world markets, look out below.
Regardless of whether Occupy Wall Street turns into a major event or a non-event, the implications are disturbing because such events reflect a growing chasm between different socio-economic strata of our society.