Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement that began in September, 2011 in the financial district of New York City. The movement focused on economic inequality, greed and corruption of the political establishment and big corporations; in-turn inspiring millions world-wide in what came to be known as the Occupy Movement. Although the movement achieved no direct results in the form of policy, OWS was able to initiate a crucial discussion about inequality, greed and corruption in economic and democratic life. By examining the emergence, impact and implications of OWS one can see how this movement rallied millions and began to create a new dialogue on societal life.
The Occupy movement was born in frustration due to inequality, greed and
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Wall Street, in collusion with Washington by means of campaign financing and political donations, has been deregulating financial markets since the 80s in order to benefit themselves. Profiting from riskier and more corrupt behaviour, the relationship between Wall Street and Washington became cosier in the belief what was good for Wall Street was good for Main Street (Giltin, 2011 p.7, 10, 11). The American public began to exert their feelings of frustration with the occurrence of The Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Pointing the finger largely at Wall Street, Americans blamed the greed and corruption of financial institutions for inciting the crisis. The feelings of distain were only further enhanced when tax payer bailouts saved Wall Street from a problem that was essentially self-created. The post GFC world saw the American economy stagnate, as unemployment soared and economic growth dwindled. People began to believe Wall Street had learned nothing from the meltdown of 2008 as financiers continued to receive hefty salaries and bonuses, while aggressive lobbying killed any reform preventing such crisis from occurring again (Jihong, 2011). The majority of Americans continued to struggle after the GFC, however, Wall Street continued to carry on as if everything was well in American life. The disconnect began to boil and with no political changes to remedy the problem for the American people their energy was set ablaze into a movement known as Occupy Wall
Former civil rights leader Cesar Chavez justifies nonviolent protest with the use of several appeals to logic and ethics in his contribution to a magazine for a religious organization. His goal being to convince the audience into realizing that nonviolent protest is the more effective option when working towards a change. His optimistic tone helps the reader connect to the cause of nonviolent protest with the help of rhetorical devices like figurative
Our 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his speech, The Banking Crisis, explain to the common man about the legislation that has taken place and the directions the American people will be taking. His purpose is to address his recent decision of closing all banks for an extended holiday. He creates a welcoming tone in order to get through a skeptical audience that had lost hope in the government and had been demoralized by the depressed economy. Roosevelt opens his speech by addressing the citizen of the United States whom he referred as “My friends”, which set up a friendly, and welcoming tone that was much needed during the Great Depression.
To Rout In the past, some self-proclaimed ‘elite’ humans have sought to enslave the general populace in some form or fashion; initially with feudalism and divine right to rule, then slavery, and now private central banking. It is by an “enslavement of the people by creation of a false sense of obligation” (Rivero) that the Federal Reserve rules. In the past, the response to this slavery was to abolish it, and not accept it anywhere. The Federal Reserve, America’s Private Central Bank, is no exception to this generalization, and should be abolished for the three simple reasons; it loans paper and ink to a government at interest, it does not properly control this money, and the interests accrued by these loans weigh heavily on the general populace.
The book argues that the mass media fundamentally misunderstood what the Occupy Wall Street movement was trying to accomplish and therefore misunderstood the methods, that a lack of one demand or leaders was not due to disorganization or political immaturity, but represented the very core of what the movement was trying to realize. Smaligo asserts that it was vital for Occupy not to have just one demand, because a single demand could never fully encapsulate the needs of everyone within the “99 percent;” instead, the movement focused on a list of grievance releasing the Declaration of the Occupation of Wall Street (a list of their grievances) and a flowchart illustrating the connected nature of their shared grievances. The book also analyzes the movements complicated relationship toward capitalism and violence and sexual assault. Lastly Smaligo demonstrates the lasting impact of the Occupy movement, how it brought the discussion income inequality and the American Police State into the mainstream political discourse, how groups like Occupy Our Homes and Occupy Sandy continue the movements message and work, and that the hope and sense of community that the movement instilled has lived on past the movements
Then, in 2016, the earth shifted beneath our feet. The rebellion started as a quiet protest, spoken by families of all colors and creeds — families who just wanted a fair shot for their children, and a fair hearing for their concerns. But then the quiet voices became a loud chorus — as thousands of citizens now spoke out together, from cities small and large, all across our country.
From the beginning of mankind’s recorded history, opposition to established governing bodies have always been recorded. Whether through coup d'etat or a peaceful protest, resistance to authority always causes change in some way. The United States Government changes; laws are meant to change as well. America prides itself on the history of its peaceful protests and revolutions, demonstrating positive effects on a free society. Because peaceful resistance wasn’t creating progressive change, radical disobedience was the key to change in the 1700’s during the American Revolution.
The question of what makes or breaks a revolution is one that persists today. Several movements like the Occupy Wall Street has faded from the public’s eye in the previous years. What differs the Occupy Wall Street from a more successful revolution like the French revolution is the cause behind the revolution and what those revolting believe in. One of the indirect causes of the French revolution was the Agrarian Crisis of 1788-89.(Schwartz) Those that stormed Bastille and brought about the French revolution weren’t concerned with the liberty and freedom but instead they were concerned about survival.
The biggest enemy to the end of the financial crisis and the beginning of an economic recovery is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson himself. Lets forget for a minute that the decision by Paulson and Bernanke to let Lehman Brothers fail was the precipitating event leading to credit markets freezing up and the first round of financial panic. Since then, the two have been working diligently to correct this collosal mistake. But separating actions from words, we see that words are in fact much more potent. Since the end of September, every time Henry Paulson has opened his month, the Dow has dropped on average 196 points.
Many people saw the United States as the land of opportunity, a place where anyone wherever they came from, or whatever their background, could make a success of their lives. The question, explain how and why the economy collapsed when the stock market crashed during the period of 1920-1929(the roaring 20’s). The economic system in the 20th century world was capitalism. The 1920’s were a time of economic boom in the USA, hence the America Dream quote in source A, in which there was little government interference in the economy as possible, lower taxes, weak trade unions and high customs duties on imported goods.
This quote paints the brokers in a negative light. The brokers controlled the market—like a king would control territory—and caused a disaster through their ignorance and greed and have since given up their control, or abdicated the throne. This comparison places the blame on stockbrokers—not the American people—and reassures the people that Roosevelt supports them, rather than the people who caused this disaster. He
On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people marched to support freedom. They marched up and down Constitution and Independence avenues in Washington D.C. before the long awaited speech. They wanted to listen to the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had, and they wanted to be the people to make that dream real. The March on Washington was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement, including the “I Have a Dream” speech. The effects of this event can still be seen today, and have changed how our nation has developed.
The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed by world markets beginning around the end of the first decade of the 21st century. The recession was a result of a financial crisis in 2007 which effected the years to come . The primary source of this problem was that banks were creating too much money. In addition, banks had doubled the amount of money and debt in the economy. Resulting in a financial crisis as the government and banks had failed to constrain the financial system’s creation of private credit and money.
Irish author Oscar Wilde claimed that disobedience is a valuable human trait, and that it promotes social progress; thus, without it, social progress would not be made. Civil disobedience is to social progress as hard work is to academic success. With hard work comes academic success, and with civil disobedience comes social progress. Though some see disobedience as a negative trait, it is what has promoted social progress in history by challenging social standards and requiring new social rules to be made. Civil disobedience challenges social standards by expanding views on the current guidelines.
The Black Lives Matter movement has intervened on America’s unjust treatment of African Americans with nonviolent protests, rallies to reach out to the people, and the making of coalitions of Black Americans. Since the Black Lives Matter movement has started the ideal of civil disobedience has changed in the public eye. Civil Disobedience is still relevant in today’s world, but with the historic beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, and other advocates of bettering America, we can discover a better way to find resolutions in violent political conflicts. “Consent of the governed determines if a law is just” was an ideal coined by John Locke, an advocate of America freedom. The ideal says that the people that follow
Executive Summary Lehman Brothers were an investment bank involved in transactions worth billions of dollars and one of the most powerful investment banks in the world. Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 following bad investment in the sub-prime mortgage market and used bad accounting practices called Repo 105 transactions to try and cover up the bad assets. This report sets out the use of the fraud triangle when describing the actions which led to the collapse. The pressure applied on the bank, the opportunity due to the lack of regulation to carry out the actions and the ability of the bank to rationalise their decision making.