When reading about the current state of the economy, one thing seems to hit you square in the kisser.
The financial powers that be don’t have a clue.
Really, nothing is going according to plan. The Fed forecasts regarding economic growth fall
Frankly, I’d be more impressed if Ben Bernanke and Tom Geithner formulated economic policy by grabbing a few Chinese coins and consulting the I Ching.
But, in response, you have the Occupy movement. Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Oakland, Occupy London – and most tellingly,
I think we’re now entering a new phase; one that will see a crystallization of issue-specific Occupy's. Foreclosure is already a
There are those among the uber-rich who will remain in a state of denial and stay insulated behind six foot high security walls and a phalanx of guards with dogs. But while they snooze, I predict that Occupy will continue to press politicians for reform; channel the spirits of Messrs. Glass and Steagall, demanding a
Matt Taibbi in the current Rolling Stone proffers some
But let’s just say for a minute that those of good will in the financial world (ie: readers of American Banker), kick off their shoes, relax, drift off into a world where all of Paul Volcker's regulatory
What Occupy has to understand (in my opinion) is that the financial community is not monolithic, composed of a bunch of Wall Street Louis XVI’s, willing only to throw bits of cake to a rabble clamoring for revolution. For every senior Chase or Goldman exec, there are thousands of non-mega-bankers willing to work with communities. (Many of those communities are hosting their own Occupy movements.) I’d submit that this key segment of the banking community organize itself into an Occupy movement of sorts, and begin to agitate for an acceptance of some of the aforementioned reforms. Simultaneously, reach out to the now established Occupy movement; create space for forums to bring opposing sides together to discuss critical issues.
There might, no doubt, provoke spirited discussion (think
Joel Sucher, a filmmaker with Pacific St. Films in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. is working on "