“Occupy Wall Street”: The Angry Voices from the US Underclass

The “Occupy Wall Street” demonstration that erupted near Wall Street in New York on September 17, 2011 was selected by the Associated Press as one of the top 10 major news stories in the world in 2011. Although there was no unified leadership in this protest and various organizations possessed different demands, it did successfully spread the idea that the interests of the richest 1 percent of the people have been emphasized to the detriment of the other 99 percent of the population. It also revealed many deep-seated problems in the U.S., economically, politically and socially. Experts thought that this might be the first social protest movement since the 1960s to have a major influence, meaning it will have a certain aspect on U.S. lawmaking in the future.

The demonstration was originally started by an online magazine called Adbusters with the slogan “Occupy Wall Street.” Most of the demonstrators in this small group were young people under 30 years of age, and many of them came from left-wing organizations and vulnerable groups. After that, the numbers of demonstrators increased and the size of the movement expanded as time moved on; the protest movement rapidly spread throughout the entire United States, even to other parts of the world. According to incomplete statistics, there were demonstrations of various sizes in 150 U.S. cities, with students in more than 70 universities and colleges participating. Street demonstrations and protests are not rare in the U.S. As long as one has legitimate reasons, one may submit an application and can hold a street demonstration once permission is granted. However, it was unprecedented for a demonstration such as “Occupy Wall Street” to develop so rapidly, expand to a wide range and to continue for so long.

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement looked to protest the endless greed and lack of self-discipline of those big financial institutions on Wall Street; to demand that these financial institutions take responsibility for the financial crisis; and to urge the government to strengthen regulations on these financial companies. Protesters held signs that said “We are the 99 percent of ”; and shout slogans such as “Wall Street must be held responsible for all crisis,” “Tax Wall Street” and “We want jobs.” Demonstrators thought that the richest 1 percent of people controlled 40 percent of the social wealth but did not pick up corresponding responsibilities. Wall Street was the initiator of the financial crisis in 2008 and the current economic dilemma; however, it received government bailout and made the taxpayers swallow the “bitter fruits” of the crisis. The leading causes of the explosion of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement were:

First, the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening in the U.S. and this aroused strong resentment among the underlying population. According to the national income report published in October 2011 by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the average after-tax income for the highest income households from 1979 to 2007, which constituted 1 percent of the U.S. population, rose 275 percent after adjusted inflation factors. In comparison, the percentage of other American households’ income only slightly more than doubled. At the same time, the percentage of low-income households, which constituted 20 percent of the U.S. population, declined in total income. In 2007 the after-tax income for the low-income households that constituted one-fifth of the U.S. population was 5 percent of the total income, declined from 7 percent in 1979. Professor Edelman, who was the director of Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy Research Center at Georgetown University in the U.S., said that high-income households, which constituted 1 percent of the population, possessed most of the income growth because they were capable of making huge amounts of money and accumulating massive wealth. Demonstrators believed that big corporations had overwhelming capacity in influencing politics. Greed and self-interest already became the main factors that blocked democracy. The purpose of the “Occupy” movement would be to re-establish democracy.

More than three-fourths of Americans think that the U.S. economical structure is in a state of imbalance and such imbalance has benefited the wealthy class, which constitutes extremely a small portion of the population but not a majority of ordinary Americans. The huge loss caused by financial system’s mistakes has been evenly distributed to the entire society; however, the profits have been placed in private individuals’ wallets. The U.S. government should weaken the power of big banks and corporations, demand that they demonstrate more sense of responsibilities and increase the level of transparency. The U.S. government should not provide financial assistance to enterprises; instead, the government should end the tax cut policy aimed at rich people and companies.

Second, the U.S. economy sticks in a continued recession and lacks the force for recovery: the unemployment rate stays high; college graduates cannot find jobs and have huge student loan debts; government reduces social benefits; the middle class is shrinking. According to statistics, since the financial crisis exploded in 2008, the U.S. government has invested huge amounts in bailouts and adopted two rounds of quantitative easing monetary policy and injected massive flowing capital to the financial system. However, banks are apparently still reluctant to make loans available, enterprises are not proactive in hiring more employees and the economy grows sluggishly. In the first and second quarters of 2011, the U.S. economy only grew 1.9 percent and 1.3 percent, but in August of the same year, the unemployment rate was up to 9.1 percent. Economic depression has caused many Americans to lose their jobs and experience a reduction in income.

Under the pressure of a highly inflated living cost, the numbers of Americans falling into poverty climbed to a new high — almost half were qualified as individuals with hardships, or became low-income individuals who depend on a meager salary to barely maintain everyday life. The U.S. uses numbers of people in a household and the household income as two basic factors to determine the poverty level. In 2011, if a family of four earns an annual gross income of less than $22,314 or if a family of two earns an annual gross income of less than $14,218, they will meet the poverty standards. According to supplementary policies drafted by the Census bureau, there are 97.3 million people who are low income, plus 49.1 million people who fall under the poverty line, the total number will add up to 146.4 million, equaling to 48 percent of the total U.S. population.

Also, the Republicans and Democrats have been engaged in fierce power struggles and have tried to constrain each other; therefore, many policies cannot be carried out swiftly and effectively, making people very apathetic. Compromises are now very difficult to achieve in current American politics; gridlock situations often occur between Democrats and Republicans and shutdowns appear to be a policymaking mechanism. For example, the tax cut compromise package, which was passed by both Democrats and Republicans at the end of 2010, lowered the monthly payroll tax rate for the U.S. working class from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent, and the package also extended payments to people who have been on long term unemployment. Both plans were due to expire at the end of 2011. In the last few months, both parties have been conducting negotiations surrounding these two issues, trying to decide whether both plans should be extended, but had not achieved any concrete results. President Obama appealed to extend the current payroll tax cut and wanted rich Americans to pay higher taxes. However, the Republicans were against collecting more taxes from the riches because, as the Republicans said, that would damage the U.S. economy recovery process.

“Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators just want to protest a malfunctioning process in policymaking. They think that lower income Americans have not widely participated in politics for a long time, their voices rarely heard by policymakers, their interests are rarely protected in policies. These people in the grassroots try to express their ideas through speeches and signs. They hope that Congress will not just listen to the rich and will not continue to cut taxes for big corporations. Congress should create more job opportunities for ordinary people because these ordinary people need to work and survive.

Observers here point out that the “Occupy Wall Street” movement will gradually recede from the stage of history; but, as the voice that came from American people in the low-income bracket, it will eventually impact Washington’s political decision-making process and push the government to pay more attention to the demands from the masses when making decisions over investments in education, infrastructure, job creation and stimulating invention. Perhaps this is the true significance of the once-sensational U.S. “Occupy Wall Street” movement.