[techweenie]

I've been watching the Occupy Wall Street protests for a while. They are not strictly comprised of young or old, middle or lower class people. There seems to be a constellation of issues but they seem to be clustered around the fact that financial institutions are the de facto government. Neither major party has the intestinal fortitude to pursue the decision makers who brought the US to the brink of financial collapse in the Fall of '08. And even with TARP, there was a lack of transparency. Further, the Fed is operating behind the scenes with a rumored $15 trillion contribution to keep financial institutions afloat. (The Fed needs auditing, which Ron Paul has said for many years.) The problem with all of the aforementioned actions is that even though they saved us from the "Iceland problem," these actions were made without visible conditions. And so C-level pay stayed in the 7- and 8-figure range even as corporations lost 9 and 10 figures. And, of course, it comes back on Joe Sixpack to make up the difference. So there are a lot of Joe Sixpacks who would be aligned with the movement if they understood it. And the media was, for weeks, complicit with the wishes of major advertisers in ignoring the protests or at best, dismissing them as 'dirty hippies.' It's a big deal. And dangerous to the Wall Street status quo.