Hardened Fronts

The operation didn’t go off as smoothly as expected. Clearing the Occupy movement’s camps, above all those at the flagship location of Zuccotti Park in New York, obviously did not achieve the desired result of bringing the demonstrations to an end — even if conditions for the protesters have been made more difficult. But it was thousands who responded to the call to resume demonstrating in the center of New York’s financial district as well as in cities across the U.S., where the sharpness of the encounters has noticeably increased. The demonstrators consider the banks and stock markets to be decidedly to blame for the social inequities in the country. And the demonstrations may well grow larger if the so-called political class doesn’t soon get public finances under control.

The gigantic mountain of debt just broke through another barrier: $15 trillion. That’s almost 100 percent of GDP for the world’s largest economy. In contrast, the European Union’s debt, which Obama never tires of saying must be reined in, looks like peanuts. Despite that, Democrats and Republicans can’t come to an agreement over cutting social spending and raising taxes on the rich in order to bring down the deficit. The social consequences will have to be borne by those who already suffer the most under the power of the banks.