One of the by-products of a 9.1 percent unemployment rate is an ample supply of young, well-educated, angry folks ready to join a protest movement such as the “99ers” who march and yell slogans under “Occupy Wall Street” banners.
They call themselves 99ers because 1 percent of the U.S. population controls 40 percent of the wealth— which leaves the other 99 percent wanting things to change.
Are they right? Will their rhythmic chants and ribald signs make a difference?
The answer to number one is yes. Answering question No. 2 will take longer. If the protests grow in size and persist they will make a political difference by activating the idealistic core the recession-that-won’t-quit largely silenced.
It is true that economic inequality has grown at a rapid, progressive rate over the past 20 years. It is also true that the nation’s largest financial institutions were guilty of creating and feeding an expansion of credit that, when the bubble burst, shoved the world into a recession that continues to hold unemployment rates up in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.
What to do about it is much less apparent. Occupying Wall Street probably isn’t the answer. Taxing the rich more would lessen the deficit but wouldn’t restart the economy. Regulating big banks more stringently would be good, but not sufficient.
And that’s the dilemma the OWS activists face — they know what they don’t like but they haven’t concocted a plan guaranteed to make it better.
Come to think about it, that’s a failing many protest movements have in common.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
