Protesters arrested at Wall Street rally
Filed under: Economy, Investing
Welcome to 1968.That's the feeling that I got listening to a representative of the organizers of today's protest on Wall Street. Capitalism has not been so unpopular since the 1960s, or maybe the 1930s or maybe even the early 20th century, when terrorists stalked Wall Street.
Four marchers were arrested at the protest. I suppose the fact that people who think Wall Street bankers are greedy bastards in suits were taken into custody is not a surprise. However unpopular bankers may be right now, the police still work for the powers that be.
Today's gathering was called "The March on Wall Street: Bail Out The People Not The Banks." Organizers ambled through the narrow streets of New York's financial district, past the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), American Express (AXP) , the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve. Their noise could be heard in nearby offices.
Another march is scheduled to be held tomorrow. It coincides with the assassination of Martin Luther King.
To say that the protesters are skeptical of the value of government intervention in the free markets is an understatement. Why, they ask, is the government spending trillions of dollars to prop up the financial system?
"The other potential motive for big government expenditures during a time of grave economic crisis like during the 1930s is the motive that's of most interest to us," the organizer's Web site says. "That motive is fear of workers rebelling. At the point that mass anger, organization and struggle has reached the critical point, stimulating the economy takes a back seat to trying to stop a revolution."
Think that sounds radical? Consider that one of the groups behind the march is the Workers World Party, a Trotskyite/Marxist-Leninist organization. Its goal of fighting for a " for a socialist society - where the wealth is socially owned and production is planned to satisfy human need" is pretty clearly spelled out on its web site.
Free market conservatives and other admirers of capitalism should not be alarmed quite yet. These are small fringe groups whose ideologies have been widely discredited. But people who are struggling might find it appealing to join forces with the critics of capitalism.
If the economy does not improve significantly over the next year or so, fringe groups like the ones involved in today's march may become more and more popular.
D-Day for Harry Reid: Can he wrangle 60 votes for Senate health bill?
Fed stalls on Chinese bank deal, costs taxpayers $1.7 billion
Dell in a handbasket: Should founder Michael Dell resign?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
4-03-2009 @ 4:56PM
Charlie said...
The demonstrations are in the wrong location....they need to march on Beverly Hills.
Reply
4-04-2009 @ 10:10AM
hadley said...
the protest should be against taxes we r being forced to pay for this bailout. protest why members of congress can vote themselves a raise. protest why they get their salary for the rest of their lives even if the serve just 1 term. We the people should not stand for this. why should they fix health care, we the people pay for congress's health care, so they don't know the hassles of getting a plan for themselves. protest why if the president only can serve 2 terms, so should members of congress. out with the crooks. term limits R needed
4-03-2009 @ 5:19PM
henry said...
the protests need to be held at barney frank's, chris dodd's and other democrats' homes. They caused this problem
Reply
4-04-2009 @ 10:00PM
fred said...
Yes finally some one is telling as it is
4-13-2009 @ 12:07PM
JL said...
How come no one has rallied against the government yet? Is it not our money? Do we not get to decide how it's spent? I think it's time to send a message, call your Senators and tell them, "If you continue to throw away our money, consider this your last term."
4-03-2009 @ 5:28PM
Donovan said...
Good for them. People (consumers) have been far too patient in waiting for justice and resolve concerning our baking systems lies, deception and predatory lending practices for long enough.
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 5:34PM
John said...
Everyone go to Haight Ashbury in San Francisco July 4, 2009. Organize
Reply
4-04-2009 @ 9:00PM
junior said...
I'll be there
4-03-2009 @ 5:34PM
jerry mcdonald said...
If you call creating government jobs, exporting manufacturing jobs, inflating the dollar to 5% of its value, making Wall Street bankers, congressmen and -women rich at our expense, capitalism is great.
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 5:47PM
J. Pida said...
"The Dow is above 8,000! The Dow is above 8,000! The banks and investment companies are saved! Thank Midas, we are saved! But what about the unemployed, the death of the American middle class, the destruction of the country's industrial base, the growth of the poor. You do know that we use to rule the world with our middle class and industry. What? Who? The Dow is above 8,000! The Dow is above 8,000! And we get to keep the money! We're saved!"
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 8:35PM
wf horan said...
I think that the Wall Street rally reported by MSM outlets have the potential to be yet another "False Flag Action" similar to the ACORN thugs bussed into CT for the so called WS & Banker pay & bonus fabricated outrage. Such would then be a phony justification for extreme measures like marshall law ordered by AKA POTUS.
Reply
4-06-2009 @ 8:47AM
rgp said...
I work down the street from the protest and went to see what it was about. Surpirse! No one talked about the protesters' disappointment in Obama. Signs read: "Stop Obama's Slaughter in Afghanistan." Others said they were lied to. This is Obama time.
Reply
4-05-2009 @ 9:23AM
JKD said...
SORRY BUT OBAMA DIDN'T START THIS ....BUSH DID NOW OBAMA IS TRYING TO FIND AWAY TO END THIS BUSH MESS..........
4-03-2009 @ 5:56PM
Gunny J said...
Nice picture of a looter.
As a business owner I own the jobs that my company offers, you have no right to take (loot) from me. It is my job to hire the best people I can to work for me to produce for me so that I may make a profit. From this profit I can build my business by hiring more workers, or giving the workers already working for me a raise or bonus.
I invest my time and my money to build my business. I may ask others to invest and if they do, they expect to earn from those investments. They risk their money. The person who works for me may invest nothing but his/her time/labor. They work for a salary. I work for the profit that is my salary.
Think of it this way, no investments, no business, no business, no jobs, no jobs, no workers, only looters.
Who is John Galt?
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 6:07PM
RollaJ said...
Who is John Galt?
John Galt is the hero in a tediously overwrought romantic fantasy written by a deranged female intellectual.
You might as well ask, "Who is Aunt Jemima?"
4-04-2009 @ 9:35AM
Lam arche Michael said...
Gunny J---- YOU'RE a nice picture of a SLAVE DRIVER and you WILL be sent to HELL for it!! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT to think you can OWN anyone else's time and the fruit of their labor? YOUR CONservitive babbling double talk falls on deaf ears. The value of your CAPITALIST PIG life is certainly worth no more than anyone elses. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!!! The fact that you think you can buy people and make them do your bidding for your GREEDY SELF GAIN is so utterly REPULSIVE that if I were beside you now I'd snuff out your existence by knocking you on your FAT A$$ and jumping on your brittle SKULL over and over. ARE YOU SO IGNORANT TO SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL!?! TO SEE THE CONTEMPT YOUR LOVE of MONEY is BREEDING? GOD HELP ME PLEASE! AMEN
"And I saw the BEAST (Anti-Christ/BULL Mkt.) and the kings of the EARTH (G20 nations) gather together and they fought against the LAMB and his army!"--Revelation 19:19 I am as a Matador and BY THE SWORD of MY MOUTH I slay the BEAST, DIE DIE DIE EVIL WICKED BEAST DIE! Turo Turo Olay CHA CHA CHING!$! And money, the life blood of the BEAST/Anti-Christ, FLOODS the VALLEY of MIGGIDO to the depth of a Horses Bridle! Awe what a BUMMER for you BULL/BEAST/ANTI-CHRIST worshiping DUDES ---LAM ARCHE o:-) MICHAEL the LIKENESS of GOD...as a SON is to his FATHER.
4-10-2009 @ 11:29AM
John said...
How many times did you use the word "I" in this blog. That my friend is the root of this problem.
4-03-2009 @ 6:03PM
jcdinform said...
What a big surprise, another Elitist Turd Licker writes a demarginalizing portraying Americans who exercise their Constitutional right to protest as something weird.
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 6:15PM
Randy said...
I just have another little thing to add, and that is OUR government or Mexico's, don't know for sure but probably the highest bidders anyway. I have sent many letters and faxes to stop infiltration of illegal immigrants into our country or maybe theirs. Our Nation that our fathers and grandfathers fought to keep free is now all but gone, the Constitution is no longer intact but molded to the government and big businesses' wishes. Big business wants the illegals here so they will work in meat plants and pick vegetables, etc., because we Americans will not work under those conditions for such low wages and at such a fast pace and undermanned positions.
Reply
4-03-2009 @ 6:30PM
jo blo said...
arrest people trying to voice their opinions in the street but pass a law to raise taxes on a minority which is unconstitutional and that is ok....................and they say im just doing my job................repulsive what cops do for their paycheck................
Reply