The cover of the next issue of the New Yorker gives voice to the 1% movement :
Below is one of the first TV news stories on the OccupyWallStreet movement, aired on September 20. Of course, it wasn't aired on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN or Fox News. On September 20, the mainstream American news media were still pretending OccupyWallStreet didn't exist :
9 year old Sam : "They're just doing the reverse of Robin Hood...it makes no sense."
#Occupy protests have blossomed into protests in more than 400 American cities and towns, and more than 1000 other cities and towns around the world. More than 1 million Americans have already taken part.
And that's in just 1 month.
It's no wonder, then, that US President Barack Obama is about to seize on the movement's popularity, and rapidly spreading influence, to rebuild his popularity and return him to the White House in 2012.
The New York Post marvels at the money and stores #OccupyWallStreet has stockpiled :
The Wall Street protesters have amassed a $230,000 war chest and a warehouse full of supplies for their long-haul campaign.
And the money continues to pour in -- through online donations, money orders and about $1,000 a day dropped in a plastic jug and paint buckets in Zuccotti Park.
Occupy Wall Street has also been flooded with goods -- everything from peanut butter to tampons -- at a rate of about 100-400 new packages a day that has overwhelmed the local UPS branch. They include so-called “jail support kits,” which include a blanket, granola bar and sanitary wipes to give to people as they get out of the slammer.
The movement’s CFO is a 21-year-old art student at Cooper Union with no financial experience -- though it’s unclear how Victoria Sobel wound up with the lofty post.
But she has plenty of help with money matters, as any expenditure greater than $100 requires a vote by the hundreds who gather for daily “general assembly.
”The spending decisions occur during rituals called “temperature checks” -- where raised hands mean “yes” and hands pointed down signal “no.”
Occupy Wall Street has raised about $229,500 in three funds, according to the group’s Web site.
One $4,500 fund for administrative costs including cellphones and travel is closed because the site says it has enough cash.
About $75,000 has been raised through the buckets in Zuccotti Park since the occupation began on Sept. 17, the New York Observer reported.
Despite the group’s harsh stance on banks, they still take their cash to two of them -- the Lower East Side People’s Credit Union and an Amalgamated Bank branch near the park.
Amalgamated, a union-owned bank, offered to waive all fees and service charges, said Ed Meedham, a member of Occupy Wall Street’s media outreach group.... some of the OWS protesters are looking for a place to sleep away from the unwashed masses.“
The public-relations team is looking for an apartment in Manhattan’s Financial District with modest furnishings (like bunk beds) that can shelter/shower six-plus full-time activists,” according to the OWS Web site."
There are thousands of empty apartments and buildings in New York City, all ready for camping-style occupations.
They used to call it "squatting".
In Australia, the #OccupySydney protests get underway and #OccupyBrisbane finds a voice of the people :
“This Isn't A Political Thing, It's An Equality Thing. I Just Want People To Be Happy. If People Were Happy That Would Be Sick!"
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