Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook here!

Citing public safety and health concerns, NY City Mayor Mike Bloomberg ordered the police to clear Occupy Wall Street protesters from their base in Zuccotti Park Tuesday morning. Roughly 150 people were arrested during the eviction, including about a dozen people who staged a 'sit-in' (or 'out') of sorts by chaining themselves to trees and to each other.

Government officials took similar steps in Oakland, CA and London.

By midday Tuesday, protesters were allowed to return to Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan after a local judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city or Brookfield Properties, which owns the park, from evicting protesters or "preventing protesters from re-entering the park with tents and other property previously utilized," Gawker reports.

The Mayor's office is now urging the judge not to extend the court order for fear that the "unsafe and unsanitary conditions" will return and threaten public safety.

Still,

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook here!

Two stories making headlines in recent weeks are putting renewed attention on allegations of crony capitalism in Washington: First, the fall of Jon Corzine's MF Global, and second, a "60 Minutes" report on insider trading by members of Congress.

The latter instance is an overt example how our elected officials, and even members of their staffs, are privy to nonpublic information, which they then can use toward their own financial gain. What's astonishing is that such behavior is legitimate due to a legal loophole that excludes members of Congress from insider trading rules.

In the case of Corzine, before becoming a Democratic senator and then governor of New Jersey, he held the top position at Goldman Sachs. After being voted out of public office, he made a return to the investing world as the head of MF Global. What's more is that he's been a long-time fundraiser for the Democratic Party, including offering significant financial support for