What is Occupy Wall Street
Get to Know Occupy Wall Street
A lot of Americans must be familiar with Occupy Wall Street. This movement is basically one of the largest modern political movements in the United States. But, are you really aware of what they are truly fighting for? You might even ask yourself why they are taking up arms.
How it Started
Occupy Wall Street was created on the 17th of September 2011 by a Canadian activist group. The protest began when demonstrators realized the disparity between the wealthy and the average Americans. Statistics have shown that 1% of Americans are wealthy and 99% have been left behind. This disparity is obviously not acceptable to a lot of Americans, because they have realized that the reforms on the equal distribution of US wealth are not doing any good.
Intent of Movement
The reason behind the Occupy Wall Street movement is to urge the government to do something about the situation. A lot of Occupy Wall Street protesters are also fighting for other causes such as corporate greed which includes illegal employee fines, job exportation penalties, the reduction of Federal Reserve power and the regulation on importation tax. They are also fighting domestic greed and political greed. They are fighting domestic greed for welfare screening, which included full Medicare, Medicaid and the Social Security for the elderly. They are fighting political greed for the financial accountability during campaigns.
A lot of people are also curious if their political protests are actually working. It is difficult to determine if it is really functioning since they have not set up any particular goal, but they have definitely caught the attention of the world. As a matter of fact, over 140 cities have been supporting the movement and 40% of Americans are in favor of the protests of the movement. If these will be the basis for their success, they have truly succeeded.
Negative Effects of Protest
Despite the good intentions of the movement, a lot of business owners are always worried about the protests. According to them, every time that there will be Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, they start worrying about their business establishments. This is because these protests can often induce fighting between protesters and police authorities. The fights would often result to setting up of police barricades and the throwing of teargases and other objects. There are also times when they get worried that they will lose their business establishments completely. According to some report, the sales of these businesses drop 20% every time there are demonstrations.
However, there is no stopping Occupy Wall Street from expanding. As a matter of fact, they have spread the word globally already. Wall Street is not the only place that these demonstrators are occupying. They were also able to create protests in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Rome, San Diego, and Boston, D.C. and St. Louis. They are also spreading the word by stamping $1 bills with facts that are presented in visual form. These $1 bills are then spread throughout the United States. This only shows that Occupy Wall Street is ongoing and will still continue for more months and even years to come.