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Occupy Movement: Precursor to Bigger Movement?
Over the last few months, the “Occupy” movement has taken over the parks in almost every major city. It all started in New York in September. The goal of the movement is to bring light to wealth inequality in the United States. The movement lists itself as a “non-violent protest” and more simply an “occupation” of a public venue, such as Grant Park in Chicago. You may have already known most of this information if you’ve turned on the news at any point in the last two months. But what you may not have thought about is if the movement is bringing a new emotion to the country as a whole. For years and years, we have allowed large tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals, golden parachutes to underperforming CEOs, and many other actions that involve large sums of money. But what about the working man? What about the middle class? As the economy keeps getting drilled and the price of living goes up, nothing is being done to support the middle class. Sure, we read about all the job creations and other things that are helping the “99 percent” but are these jobs providing people with the opportunity to flourish in this country? I don’t think they are. I’m not saying that I have a solution for the problem, but someone better think of one before things get out of control. The United States government has failed to really grasp the effects that the economy is having on normal people. With the government’s focus on making sure corporations are happy, they are neglecting to help the people they work for. Two weeks ago, a committee of six members in the Untied States Congress was supposed to have a plan to cut the budget and make sure that the United States stays clear of getting it’s credit rating lowered again. They did not come up with a plan. And how did it affect them? Not at all. They failed to realize that their failures got a ball rolling in the minds of many of the 99 percent. Many people put their savings into the stock market, and after the credit rating was downgraded and stocks sunk towards the end of summer, they lost a lot of money. After a rebound, the stocks took another major hit when the news that no resolution was made in this committee, the stock market took another major hit, costing many portfolios to take a hard hit. It seems to be that the “Occupy” movement has not really made an impact in the eyes of the politicians, but when will they realize that they should have listened? The movement may be wrapping up, but are the politicians allowing something bigger than this occupation to build up? Will the protests become bigger and violent? No one can tell and no one can tell how long it will take, but the United States government should start to acknowledge the presence of the 99 percent of the population before another movement takes rise. Mitch is a sophomore studying political science. You may contact him at mitch-grant@uiowa.edu.
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