‘Occupy’ Crowd Too Focused on Wall Street, Not Enough on Corporate Power: Author

They should all be hanging out in front of Jon Corzine's home---he is the personification of their supposed rage. The confluence of corporate excess and political power----and he will personally walk away with $$$ in the bank and he left a company and a state (NJ) in his wake.

We need to be skeptical of bigness in general, whether it's big government, big banks (Wall Street), big business, or big media. They're all gradually converging and are all fundamental supports for the existing power structure which no longer serves the American people very well.

I am impressed with the over take on the problem at hand. You are absolutely correct that the focus should be on our political leaders. The laws that they pass, the lack of integerty, the lack of accountability, and the list goes on. That said, the political machine is supported by big business who finance their campains so they can have laws passed that will allow them the tax breaks etc. Along with the judges that are put in place by the politicins to uphold the laws that the politicians pass. So yes the focus should be the White House, The Capitals, Every office where a politician resides.
The focus needs to be redirected to address the system as a whole and to put in place the much needed oversight to hold the politicians, the laws they create and their activities accountable.
The primary reason to be reelected to a position of power and authority to push their personal agendas and that of their political party. It is not to act on behalf of the general public. It is an Ileitis system powered and supported by those who have the power or those who have the power to dicatate to those who have the power.

there is no corporate america, only global business...CEO of GE shifts jobs overseas, and says on tv he wants the american people to 'root' for them...john chambers of cisco said he wants to be a chinese company...they are quick to wave the flag and use the legal protections of the US system, but when it comes to investing in our communities and creating jobs, they are not so interested if some other country will work for less, often less than what an american needs to make just to feed his family...conversely, it's often foreign companies creating new jobs in america when they see an opportunity forsaken by US corporations, but they often get significant concessions from politicians trying to attract them to replace US employers that left....so you see, corporate power is global, and yet we are still viewing the world with a 20th century 'america vs. the others' mentality....we have to change the way we think, because corporations have changed the way they operate...if we don't, in 10 or 20 years the government will be absolutely powerless against the consolidated might of ever larger, stateless companies for whom any form of social responsibility will no longer even be needed as a formality..the global corporatocracy is coming, we have to find ways to make it work for the american people and not against. meantime all we can do to benefit is to become employees - tough since they're not hiring - or investors if the money is there to invest, but even now, they are hoarding cash and not even paying out to shareholders. the OWS should at least demand companies pay out hoarded cash to the stockholders if they are not reinvesting it...

Wall Street = Corporations = Washington ALL THE SAME

Just get everyone to follow the US Constitution including American businesses.

But for those who say the Wall Street protesters need to offer specific demands, James Hoopes, professor of ethics at Babson College disagrees: "They're wrong. OWS is all about what I say in my new book. Buy a copy!"

Read the "Coming New Dark Ages: The Truth About the U.S. Economy" to see why the debts of the world's advanced economies can be reconciled only by default, regardless of fiscal policies.

Another lost post. Dare not be critical of Yahoo! or its favorite contributors.

Corporate America threw gazillions at California Real Estate Development, building
McMansions up and down the State. Raking in multi-gazillions along the way, mortgage by mortgage, credit card by credit card. Bulldozing up the level playing field, shattering the social contract. All the while our kids were sent to two-multi-trillion-dollar-wars, when, if Cheney/Bush had bought every U.S. automobile driver a new hybrid vehicle it would have been far less costly than wars, cut gasoline consumption by 15%, and employed hundreds of thousands of our own. Republicans missed their moment of sanity and here we are.

You're right. Wall St. isn't the root of the problem. You're wrong. Corporate greed is also not the root of the problem.

The place...Washington D.C. The crimes. Chiseling, cheating, corruption, incompetence and lack of integrity.

We could never have a revolution in America? Just wait until the discontent realize who the real target should be, and just how the political class has been pillaging the market place.

Guys, focus on Health Care. It's ridiculously overpriced, we pay 2-3 times more for the same services compared to Europe and Japan. It affects everybody! No matter how rich you are, one serious illness can easily make you bankrupt!

those OWS nosepickers should be occupying the White House lawn - there's the source of our real problems today

Why should young people buy into the mantra of work more, enjoy less, pollute more, eat toxic foods and suffer illnesses, all for the sake of increasing GDP.
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US prez, enshrined the pursuit of happiness as a human right when he drafted our Declaration of Independence. Jefferson emphasized that America’s government was, “to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible for the general mass of those associated under it.” Likewise, the Constitution of the United States declares that government is to promote, among other things, the general welfare of the people
Why not learn ways to work less and enjoy it more; spend more time with our friends and families; consume, pollute, destroy and owe less; and live better, longer and more meaningfully?
just dreaming.....

OWS is a term that is meant to cover all the wrong the entire financial market has done to the average American and how the government let this happen. I do not believe that a leader needs to emerge or to state what they want. If our self indulgent politicians don't get it, they deserve to be fired now. Not voted out, fired. When enough people hit the street and camp out in protest for months now, the picture should be very clear that the people are not happy and want change. To ignore this or any attempt a career politician makes to take it over, will prove to be a mistake.

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, l952-----

Hey, Human Bean, the best tactic for hunting squirrels is to shoot one and leave it laying on the ground. Soon, others will come out and begin eating it and you can shoot them too. Makes for a good barbeque. That is good information from a native of the mountains north of Lake Tahoe.

occupy wallstreeters don't listen to anyone, they don't trust anyone because they have been lied to for decades by the media and the govt, two entities who are supposed to be trustworthy.

In Seattle the occupy crowd demonstrated in front of the Downtown Sheraton where Jamie Dimon was speaking. The crowd missed an opportunity to deliver a clear actionable message: we need to break apart huge private financial institutions into a size where they can be allowed to fail. This avoids immoral taxpayer bailouts (the latter of which include not just TARP but also the Fed buying their bad paper and also the Fed having to set negative real interest rates, etc etc). Have we all forgotten the risk of TOO BIG TO FAIL?

“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
― Abraham Lincoln