Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Protestors ALREADY Occupy Wall Street
National Legal & Policy Center ^ | October 11, 2011 | Peter Flaherty

Posted on 10/11/2011 10:35:09 AM PDT by jazusamo

Wall Street protest photo

Are the anti-Wall Street protestors demonstrating against themselves? The richest and most prominent Wall Street executives almost overwhelmingly supported and bankrolled Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008.

And on Wall Street, little distinction is made between liberal Democrats and avowedly socialist activist groups. The big banks financed ACORN. Although ACORN has disbanded in the wake of scandal, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, formerly headed by White House Chief of Staff William Daley, continues to fund similar groups committed to undermining capitalism and debasing democracy.

Goldman Sachs and other big financial institutions lobbied for Dodd-Frank, which institutionalizes the "too big to fail" policy. In doing so, Goldman and the others support the same type of politically directed capital allocation as advocated by the people in the streets.

The Fortune 500 companies are headed by executives, many of whom attended elite liberal universities and came of age during the late 60s and early 70s. Many of them are not particularly sympathetic to capitalism or traditional American values.

I doubt the protestors resent much about PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi. She gave a commencement speech in 2005 in which she asserted that our nation's foreign policy has been characterized by America giving "a middle finger" to the rest of the world. PepsiCo has funded groups headed by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well groups that lobby for gay marriage. PepsiCo is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which lobbies for cap and trade legislation.

What is remarkable is not Ms. Nooyi viewpoints or affiliations, but the fact that they are fairly typical of today's corporate executive. Moreover, Corporate America seldom funds or allies itself with groups promoting free enterprise.

Even companies that still incite the ire of the Left have pretty much embraced the Left's agenda. Walmart supported ObamaCare, as well as cap and trade. It has adopted a series of "green" initiatives which it is now forcing down the throats of its thousands of suppliers. Talk about corporate power.

The anti-Wall Street protests are street theater. It is for the TV cameras. In reality, the Left commands real power in the financial community through union pension and benefit funds.

In January, an analyst at private equity firm Blackstone had the temerity to suggest that public sector employment benefits might have to be trimmed. The union response was swift. Blackstone, which manages billions in union pension funds, soon after issued a statement asserting that "a pension is a promise" and opposing the "scapegoating" of public employees. Stephen Schwarzman, the Chairman of Blackstone, is one of Wall Street's few Republicans.

The Left seems to have finally realized the saliency of the Wall Street bailouts as a political issue, but they are late to the party. It was the bailouts, more than any other single issue, that propelled the emergence of the Tea Party movement.



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics
KEYWORDS: corporations; jpmorganchase; leftism; nlpc; obama; occupywallstreet; pepsico; walmart

1 posted on 10/11/2011 10:35:19 AM PDT by jazusamo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: jazusamo

Blackstone, which manages billions in union pension funds.
Woder if the over seas hackers will look into them?.


2 posted on 10/11/2011 10:51:00 AM PDT by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jazusamo

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

3 posted on 10/11/2011 11:03:32 AM PDT by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jazusamo

The people that control Wall St and most multinational corporations believe in capitalism for themselves and communism for the rest of us, with the government subsidizing their companies through targeted giveaways and “affordability credits” for the masses. They want a world where the government pays most of their labor costs by subsidizing “programs” like Obamacare, food stamps, unemployment, etc and all workers are just disposable temps.

The unwashed hippie-wannabees that occupy Wall St believe in communism for all. But with the ridiculous belief that, under communism, their iPhones and Starbucks coffee and student loans will still be there for them, only it will all be FREE and no one will have to work to make it.

The first group are evil SOBs who have manipulated us into becoming our own worst enemy. The second group are just stupid. We need to rediscover an America that is somewhere in the middle of that.


4 posted on 10/11/2011 11:04:09 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (The solution to fix Congress: Nuke em from orbit. It's the only way to be sure!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bryanw92

Well said. PM Thatcher said something to the effect that socialism is great until you run out of other peoples money. That’s where we’re headed and I believe faster than many realize.


5 posted on 10/11/2011 11:12:03 AM PDT by jazusamo (The real minimum wage is zero: Thomas Sowell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson