Well said, indeed! I agree with the spirit of everything you are saying.
However, I don’t understand how picketing on Wall Street addresses the issues of government tax policy, government spending policy or government election finance reform, not to mention all the other aspects of reform needed for a more socially just and equitable society. That’s the disconnect for me. How does picketing bond salesmen lead to avoiding senseless wars or lead to more inclusive healthcare? I think that all of OWS need to collectively (no pun intended) take the bus to Washington.
To the extent those on Wall Street are culpable of financial crime and corruption – and I can think of many, many specific examples – by all means we should be picketing for enforcement and justice. But why picket the criminals? They should be picketing the State Attorney General’s office and/or the Department of Justice.
I spent several years living overseas, and I see no difference between the systematic, official corruption here and the systematic, official corruption I saw in other countries. But I also know this is not the first time we have faced this corruption as a nation. As the progressive movement from the 1890s-1920s showed, wide scale changes in suffrage and tax policy are possible. It can be done. Laws can be passed against the financial interest of ‘rent-seeking* legislators. Amendments to the constitution can be made. However, all the wealth redistribution in the world, regardless of the progressiveness of tax rates, will not be able to reverse the impact of global economic forces. So the occupiers might feel that conditions are more fair – which I certainly support – but such action won’t address their underlying economic complaints (as I understand them). I agree with Dr. Swift – the money is simply not there, even at 100% taxation.
My great-great grandfather was a wheelwright at the turn of the 20th century. He had spent years learning to be a master in art of crafting wagon wheels out of wood, but the introduction of the internal combustion engine rendered his skill worthless in the marketplace. My grandfather started his career as an architectural draftsman, and the job he did then doesn’t even exist anymore. 99% of the work my dad’s printing company used to manufacture has moved online. When was the last time you called a travel agent or a stock broker?
So, yes, let’s fix these inequities in government policy. Let’s demand enforcement of our existing laws. Let’s demand inclusion, more meritocracy and less rent-seeking. But even once all the political loopholes are fixed, the underlying economic complaints with still remain (and probably will be getting worse) In the end, I can’t see any alternative to learning to adapt to a changing economic landscape.
*EDITOR: “rent” in this context is an economic term for taking advantage of a situation. The writer is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School.
Occupy Wall Street’s perception that this equalization has been unequally distributed is spot on, but they need a GPS rather than a drum circle because they are protesting at the wrong location. They need to be in Washington demanding that financial fraud be prosecuted and that regulation benefit the little guy instead of the monopolists. In contrast to today’s rhetoric, both have always been key tenets of free market advocates, including Adam Smith and the entire Austrian School.