"Occupy Wall Street" Clearly Magnifies America's Suffering

Published in Sina
(China) on 4 October 2011
by He Jing Jun (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Meghan McGrath. Edited by Katerina Kobylka.
According to Xinhua News Agency, about 800 protesters marched in downtown Los Angeles, and held an assembly in support of New York’s “Occupy Wall Street" protest on October 2. The “Occupy Wall Street” protests have been going on for two weeks and have since spread to other American cities, including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Seattle.

From the beginning, the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have just been a "gimmick," as they do not even hold a candle to the political protest movement of the Yellow Jackets in Thailand. Therefore, any attempt to further decipher this movement will never be successful in comprehensively understanding “Occupy Wall Street.”
  
Of course, the possibility of further expansion to this movement cannot be ruled out, but it would likely further worsen its unmanageable nature. This observation is mainly about the characteristics of the movement; though it is not affiliated with any political party, there are several high-profile civil rights activists involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, but not for political gain. Due to the pure nature of the movement, its activities are limited to the government and Wall Street bankers who hear its voice, with whom the activists hope to have face-to-face talks to achieve their expectations.
 
Just as the London riots showed the pain of those on welfare in the United Kingdom, and Israel’s "Tent Protest" showed the soaring cost of housing for young people, the United States' “Occupy Wall Street” campaign also presents an era of the United States experiencing pain.
  
The United States, by using financial capitalism as the transfer hub for all of society, has taken risks and brought forth innovation, and thus successfully defended the "American Dream." Wall Street suffered a blow during the U.S. financial crisis in 2008, but this did not allow the U.S. government to pass the "Reform Wall Street" bill, though it did allow large amounts of aid. Other industries, such as automobile manufacturing, had not yet received government bail-out money and could not create jobs. For the United States’ persistent high unemployment, the root lies in the high-ranking financial service industry — the disease of small industries. People are constantly losing their homes to foreclosure, indicating that this crisis is ongoing.
  
The latest data shows that the global economy is facing the risk of a "big stagnation." The “Occupy Wall Street” movement has sounded an alert to other countries that the United States’ pain is a trend that is likely to be felt by everyone.


据新华社报道,约800名示威者2日在美国洛杉矶市中心举行游行和集会,声援纽约“占领华尔街”的抗议活动。“占领华尔街”抗议活动已持续了两周,并向美国其他城市蔓延,其中,洛杉矶、波士顿、芝加哥、丹佛和西雅图都发生了抗议活动。

  从一开始,“占领华尔街”只是一种“噱头”,并不包含像泰国黄衫军那样攻占政府大楼的暴力式不相容政治抗议,所以,任何扩大式解读,都无助于对这一运动的全面了解。

  当然,这场运动也不排除进一步扩大的可能,但不太可能恶化到不可收拾。这样的观察,主要是考虑运动的民间性质,没有一个政党宣布是这场运动的推动者,虽有数个民间活动人士高调参与这一场运动,但不是为政治利益而来。由于纯民间性,它的活动仅止于让政府和华尔街金融家们听到他们的声音,实现与他们面对面谈判的期望。

  不过,正如伦敦骚乱呈现了英国福利收缩后部分民众的痛苦,以色列“帐篷运动”呈现住房成本高涨后对年轻人的伤害一样,美国“占领华尔街”运动也呈现了美国正在经历的时代痛苦。

  美国以金融资本主义为枢纽调动整个社会的创新与冒险,并由此成功捍卫了“美国梦”。美国华尔街尽管在2008年的金融危机中遭受了打击,但并没有让美国政府由此下定决心“改造华尔街”,反而出手相护,输入了巨额救助金。而对于其他行业,如汽车制造业等,则未得到“大到不能倒”的政府礼遇,吸引就业的制造业最后成了真正的输家。美国持续的高失业率,根在于重金融服务业,轻制造业的痼疾。在民众还在不断失去住房抵押赎回权时,说明这一场危机还在持续。

  最新数据也表明,全球经济正面临着“大停滞”的风险。“占领华尔街”对其他国家也是一声警报,美国的阵痛,很有可能换个方式出现在任何一个国家。
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Poland: Jędrzej Bielecki: Trump’s Pyrrhic Victory*

Egypt: The B-2 Gamble: How Israel Is Rewriting Middle East Power Politics

Austria: Trump, the Bulldozer of NATO

     

China: Three Insights from ‘Trade War Truce’ between US and China

Germany: Trump’s Disappointment Will Have No Adverse Consequences for Putin*

             

Topics

Ethiopia: “Trump Guitars” Made in China: Strumming a Tariff Tune

Egypt: The B-2 Gamble: How Israel Is Rewriting Middle East Power Politics

China: Three Insights from ‘Trade War Truce’ between US and China

United Kingdom: We’re Becoming Inured to Trump’s Outbursts – but When He Goes Quiet, We Need To Be Worried

Poland: Jędrzej Bielecki: Trump’s Pyrrhic Victory*

Austria: Trump Is Only Part of the Problem

Canada: Canada Must Match the Tax Incentives in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

Related Articles

Indonesia: US-China: Tariff, Tension, and Truce

China: US Chip Restrictions Backfiring

Thailand: US-China Trade Truce Didn’t Solve Rare Earths Riddle

Taiwan: Taiwan Issue Will Be Harder To Bypass during Future US-China Negotiations

Hong Kong: Amid US Democracy’s Moral Unraveling, Hong Kong’s Role in the Soft Power Struggle