The Occupier's Manifesto

The Occupier’s Manifesto

(my apologies to The Mentor)

Another one got pepper sprayed and arrested today—it’s in all the blogs.  “Occupied Wall Street Protest Gets Ugly.”  Damn protestors, they’re all alike.

But did you ever stop to think, unplug from your cushy upper-middle-class-baby-booming-GenX life and ask yourself why these Americans are so outraged?  I am an activist, enter my world…

My world begins at work.  I’m an underpaid cost consultant for the advertising agencies on Madison Avenue.  I’m smarter than most of my coworkers and my managers feel threatened by me.  Damn nonconformist, they’re all alike. 

I made a discovery today: A Demonstration.  A group of people who are as disgusted by our failed healthcare, financial and education systems as I am.  This group doesn’t shut me up if I speak at a meeting.  There’s no performance review here.  If I have a health concern, the people in The Park don’t tell me, “your health insurance doesn’t cover that.”  If I feel the group is moving in the wrong direction, I can say so, without fear of being fired. 

Suddenly it spread like wildfire across the country.  Tens of thousands of protestors united by the common bond that America does not have to remain a place where only the rich thrive.  People with jobs that could be more rewarding; people with one or two college degrees, with aspirations for the America their parent’s had—people with vision. 

I feel cheated by my country.  When I was a kid you told me to work hard, attend college and get a job in Manhattan.  I did all of this, yet it’s impossible for me to pay my mortgage, save for retirement and put a kid through college—what my parents did for me.  Damn spoiled brat, they’re all alike.

You take my tax money, use it to wage wars so your friends can get rich, lie to me and tell me it’s for my own good and when your same friends squander away all their profits, you ask me to bail you out.    

Like any other 29 year old New Yorker, I’m concerned with my career.  My company pays me enough to pay my bills and eat, but anything else is a stretch.  If I want to buy Christmas presents for my girlfriend, I have to get a second job.  A second job just so I can buy things people don’t need from a store that probably treats their employees worse than I’m treated at my first job!  Damn ungrateful 20-something, they’re all alike.

And then it hit me, like a person who is drowning wishes he were hit with a life preserver: Occupy Wall Street can work.  Demonstration is back in Democracy.  Democracy is back in America.  Activism is the new black.  A revolution which will rival the antiwar movements of the Sixties has already begun and it is too late for it to be stopped. 

No longer will students with no prospects of a career be relegated to their bedroom at their parent’s house.  No longer will disaffected workers, given raises that are less than the rate of inflation (if they even get a raise) have to squirrel themselves away in their cubicles.  No longer will the workers of America shut up.  We will not be silent. 

I am an activist and this is my manifesto.  You may stop me, but you cannot stop us all.  After all, we’re all alike. 

[This piece is an adaptation of The Hacker Manifesto, by The Mentor]

A Response to OWS Criticism re: Economic Knowledge

A response to today’s MSM accusations that OWS demonstrators are blind to economic issues. 

*NOTE: MSM typically polls persons they assess as being aligned with the subjective theme of their story, or persons who are too young to have been in the workforce for any duration of time.

Questions ranged from what is the SEC? to who is Elizabeth Warren?

As an OWS demonstrator, who is currently employed full-time, an active equities and commodities trader and a person who holds a seat on a Board of Directors as a Treasurer, I wish to offer some enlightenment.  I am also offended by the tactics of the MSM at targeting protesters who are clearly too young to understand the architecture of economics.   This media smear campaign will be disproved by the contents of this post.

The SEC is the Securities and Exchange Commission.  They are tasked with tracking and regulating illegal trading practices, such as insider trading—let’s say I ask my ex girlfriend for a heads up on a quarterly earnings report, or a 10K annual report on her company called XYZ.  She gives me news that her company’s earnings will “miss the street”; in other words, analysts’ estimates (provided by FAs at big banks, money management companies, ratings agencies, etc.) are higher than her firm’s numbers.  I act on the insider information she provided me with and decide to short the stock.   For individual investors as well as institutional investors, shorting is an aggressive form of capitalizing on the depreciation of a stock price.  It is perfectly legal, an integral part of the free market, bolsters liquidity, as well as overall capitalism.  Shorting a stock is also beneficial, with respect to Efficient Markets Hypothesis, because the share price (theoretically) will always incorporate all relevant information—short positions and put options do affect the underlying share price. 

(1)     So I go ahead and act on the insider information I received and short her company’s stock—her company is trading at $10/share, but I hope to sell the stock at $5/share, when this move is all said and done…risky bet, but I cheated the system and have insider information.  I setup a margin account with my broker where I borrow 1000 shares ($10,000) of XYZ and immediately sell them on the open market, for $10,000. 

(2)    As predicted, the news on the street that XYZ has missed analysts’ estimates causes the share price to tumble to $50.  My broker calls me up and says, “hey, you owe me 1,000 shares of XYZ, pay up!”  I buy back the 1,000 shares at the newly discounted price of $5, for a total of $5,000 and gladly deliver them to my broker. 

(3)     My profit is $5,000. 

(4)    The SEC, with their watchful eye, finds out that I traded on insider information, I am arrested, tried and sent to prison.

Unfortunately, the fictitious situation posited above, occurs every day on Wall Street and around the world.   The perpetrators of insider trading are rarely investigated, seldom tried and almost never wind up in prison.

The SEC showed their ineptitude at investigating securities fraud during the Bernard Madoff saga.  Madoff had been investigated by the SEC for what is known as front running.  As a market maker (a company that matches buyers with sellers of stocks and vice-versa), Madoff was in a position to see the order flow of trades.  This is high-volume order flow, vs. what is referred to as “dumb orderflow” (when you or I place a small trade on E-Trade).  This visibility affords market makers the ability to purchase the same stock in advance of executing the transaction of the large order.  When a stock is purchased in high volume, there is a brief uptick in the price and the market maker—who purchased ahead of the large order—will profit simply based on the uptick.  This is corroborated by one of the major tenets of Dow Theory: Trends are confirmed by volume. 

The Lipstick Building, where Bernard L. Madoff Securities, LLC. operated on floors 17 and 19

In fact, it has never been proven that Madoff was front running and even if he was suspected of it, this activity could not substantiate the rate of returns (upwards of 16%) that he was delivering to his investors.  It was this realization that prompted Harry Markopolos (then of Rampart Investment Management) to notify the SEC that he believed Madoff was running a ponzi scheme.  As the SEC lacked the resources and the talent to investigate large firms, such as Bernard L. Madoff, Markopolos was ignored and billions of investor's dollars evaporated.

Elizabeth Warren was a Harvard Law school professor.  I first became familiar with her work when she published “The Two Income Trap,” which was an examination into the modern American economy becoming reliant upon 2 incomes per household vs. the traditional single income household and the ramifications of this trend. 

The country became familiar with Elizabeth Warren when Barack Obama appointed her to oversee the disbursement of the TARP funds, which were funds to help banks cope with the “Toxic Assets” that the big banks were stuffed to the gills with in 2008.  These assets were primarily financial instruments, such as SIVs and mortgage backed securities—a broth of bogus loans, backed by mortgages that were issued recklessly and in a predatory fashion (lenders did not conduct due diligence regarding the borrowers).  Furthermore, insurance giants (such as AIG) bet on the repayment of said loans, via Credit Default Swaps (CDS') which also required bailout assistance.  These unregulated practices, submerged the financial and insurance sectors into their home-cooked poison soup of “toxic assets.”  Hence the TARP bailout of 2008, monitored by Elizabeth Warren. 

So Bloomberg News, 1010WINS and Michael Savage, please stop depicting OWS demonstrators as being dumb with respect to economics.  I work hard, pay my taxes, trade in my free time and—when I’m not attending Occupy Wall Street protests—can clearly write intelligently on the subjects of finance and economics. 

Ciao. 

Washington Square -- "Welcome to the Paradigm Shift"

This mobilization is inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia, Britain and Egypt.  It is birthed by the surplus of talented individuals and students; those underemployed have found their occupation.  It is operated by a digital infrastructure; integrated and ubiquitous, this very medium for oppression has now been inverted into a means for activism.

Only minutes after the occupation of Times Square, people began trickling in to Washington Square Park.  Some took subways, some walked, some drove from North Carolina and caught a subway from their friend's apartment in Brooklyn--the trickle grew into a flood. 

After over 10,000 shutdown Times Square, the Washington Square crowd approached 3,000

A peaceful Police Officer looks on as a child partakes in the demonstration

In OWS' Standard Operating Procedure (and yes, there is one), the 9pm General Assembly was broadcast around the world, via livestream.  The viewership was lower than normal, as many viewers were busy demonstrating--a bridge from cyberspace to cityspace. 

Democracy unfurled, as a banner reads, "Welcome to the Paradigm Shift"

A paradigm shift has occured for our generation.  Masses of educated and employed persons, as well as disaffected citizens, have begun a mobilization.  This mobilization is inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia, Britain and Egypt.  It is birthed by the surplus of talented individuals and students; those underemployed have found their occupation.  It is operated by a digital infrastructure; integrated and ubiquitous, this very medium for oppression has now been inverted into a means for activism.  No longer will disenchanted Americans default to cynicism; no longer will the marginalized masses be muted. 

"To the extent to which the work world is conceived of as a machine and mechanized accordingly, it becomes the potential basis of a new freedom of man." --Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man

Times Square virtually shut down as our generation continues growing up!

Arriving at 5:30pm, on 42nd street, I watched as protesters appeared and marchers streamed uptown.  Some took subways, some marched and others miraculously amalgamated themselves, within Times Square.  My opinion that my generation does not know how to demonstrate is growing into my generation is learning how to demonstrate! 

This evening, Occupy Wall Street pulled off their biggest move yet: a march and temporary occupation of New York's Times Square!  Allegedly, 70+ arrests were made.  All protesters observed were peaceful, non-violent and positive.  There was an air of success, civility and sovereignty in Midtown Manhattan.

Demonstrators beneath the NASDAQ ad

The protesters amassed, in excess of 10,000 activists; they epitomized the respectful, civil and non-violent maxims practiced by OWS. 

Shut Down!

The taking of Times Square was a very special moment in America's history to have been a part of. 

Peace in front of the Boys In Blue

  

Solidarity





Peace with the Rickshaw

A young lady annointed us with sage.  When I asked if this would help to end the Wars, she joyefully replied, "yes!"

A total shutdown and mob of activists and photographers

Subway stations were cordoned off, while some found alternative seating.



Crowd gathers.  The "Silent Majority" (Baudrillard) is no longer silent!

The Beast in "the belly of the beast"



A message to not lose "Liberty Plaza"

The chopper looks down, as the peace children gaze upward

Jubilant Police Officers!

Concerns about America's foreign policies:

Protesters hoist a replica of a US Drone, on 45th street

My next post will include images and editorial on the 7pm General Assembly, held in Washington Square Park--as the protesters streamed into subways and teleported their demonstration to a new home-base of operations. 

A glimpse into the future from Cyberspace

A view from one of many Occupy Wall Street's livestream websites depicts a live video feed (left), ribbons to select OWS streams from various cities (upper-left) and an instantaneous chat room (right).  This is part of the cyber infrastructure as much as it is a part of the movement's architecture.  The chat is hosted by a technology resurrected from the early days of the Net:  IRC, or Internet Relay Chat.  It has been coupled with the technology of livestreaming video to produce a moderated forum--a sanctuary for solidarity, discourse and real-time feedback.  Users of the chatroom are now able to interact with those on-camera.  They are afforded the option to view streams from OWS encampments worldwide and the chatroom switches to that location as well, when the users select a new location ribbon. 

The facilitation of an active feedback loop has occurred.  Not only are cyber-users able to connect to movements in solidarity, they are able to contribute and pose questions to the demonstrators, on-the-fly.  The power of the feedback loop replicates, into the demonstrators watching the onliners, who are  watching the demonstrators (above).  This is a new iteration of the very concept of demonstration, never before seen en masse. 



 Given that much of this movement had begun via IRC--OWS had sown their Cyber seeds--and has harnessed the power of corporate technology, a new discourse is needed.  What has taken place is the exploitation of the digital sphere around the tangible globe. 

In 1989, cyberpunk author William Gibson published Neuromancer--the novel that coined the term Cyberspace.  Gibson painted a dark and daunting view of our future; a world where government was subserviant to corporations.  Where renegade "cyber jockeys" corral their needs, or those of their employers, through the corridors of computers and the influence of information.  The free-market is not governed by currencies nor corporations--the only relevant commodity is information, the only obstacle is dubbed "ice"--and all beings are individual entities.  Gibson's term "ice" refers to electronic/information technologies, acting as boundaries to obtaining the covetted commodity of information.  He felt that in the future, government has no relevance, corporations have no relevance and we are all left to our own devices to traffic, retain and confiscate information.  Worldwide, technology, business and government have been trending toward Gibson's anarchisitic view of the future.

In a World where the core of the global economy was shown to be a complete farce--the implosion of toxic "assets" and the credit crisis of 2008--the concept of information-based value is ever more plausible.  Look at the sectors that are currently in the highest of demand:  IT, consulting and computer programming (a field that has seen a twofold increase in salaries, over the past several years). 

Yet as we diverge into independent cells of bits of information, it appears this very phenomenon has brought us together in reality.  Ironically enough, it was the privatization of Zuccotti Park that allowed this very movement to usurp government regulations.  Clearly our ice is much more corporate than it is legislative.  Paradoxically, Occupy Wall Street has cut through many layers of ice to obtain a physical presence of unity.  Global movements and American will have now enraptured humans to a material manifestation of solidarity--a Pangea of core ideals...

"Bodiless, we swerve into Chrome’s castle of ice. And we’re fast, fast. It feels like we’re surfing the crest of the invading program, hanging ten above the seething glitch systems as they mutate.  We’re sentient patches of oil swept along down corridors of shadow.  Somewhere we have bodies, very far away, in a crowded loft roofed with steel and glass. Somewhere we have microseconds, maybe time left to pull out.

We’ve crashed her gates disguised as an audit and three subpoenas, but her defenses are specifically geared to cope with that kind of official intrusion. Her most sophisticated ice is structured to fend off warrants, writs, subpoenas.

When we breached the first gate, the bulk of her data vanished behind core-command ice, these walls we see as leagues of corridor, mazes of shadow. Five separate landlines spurted May Day signals to law firms, but the virus had already taken over the parameter ice. The glitch systems gobble the distress calls as our mimetic subprograms scan anything that hasn’t been blanked by core command.The Russian program lifts a Tokyo number from the unscreened data, choosing it for frequency of calls, average length of calls, the speed with which Chrome returned those calls.
“Okay,” says Bobby, “we’re an incoming scrambler call from a pal of hers in Japan. That should help.”

Ride ‘em, cowboy." 

-- William Gibson, Burning Chrome

Victory in the first of many Battles

The police have postponed arrests due STRENGTH IN NUMBERS.  We are now closer to peace and prosperity in America!!!

What will tomorrow bring?

After the mandate from the Mayor to egress Zuccotti Park, many hardcore (or "oathkeeper") Occupy Wall Street activists are refusing to budge.  Furthermore, the AFL-CIO has requested that their union members get to the park by midnight, tonight!  We are looking at a showdown here people. 

My prayers go out to the demonstrators, the police and our world.  As the Hacker Manifesto eloquently stated, "this is our world now, the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud."  I had the privilege of hearing the mentor narrate his words at the H2K2 conference, in the Hotel Pennsylvania.  Back in 2002, the need for this type of movement, begotten by hacktivism, was needed...now it is the only option.  Disaffected peoples from Harlem to Haiti now have a voice. 

My generation first made information (music, media and movies) free to all.  The digitizing of our escapades was more of a prank than a passion-fueled movement.  Now we have coupled the grassroots ideals of direct democracy with what was once known as Cyberspace. 

Occupy Wall Street's savvy looking techno-geek media team was backed by an infrastructure of activists who finally figured out how to mobilize IRL (In Real Life).  Forget Talib Kweli's freestyle and guest appearances by Michael Moore and Kanye West.  The Rhizome of proselytic memes--ideas with no owner, no author and no governing body, generated this movement.  Kanye, Kweli and Moore were only there because our history, written in Cyberspace, dictated their future actions. 

Pursuant to a report on MSNBC, Zuccotti Park is presently spic and span.  MSNBC's footage shows the scrubbing of stone walls, ground and benches, to a shine.  Tomorrow, will the immaculate walls of Liberty Plaza reflect the peace and prosperity that our generation desires?  Or will they reflect more images of defenseless, civil young women being pepper-sprayed in their American eyes?  A violent spit-in-the-face to the face of our cause--the cause for opportunity, freedom and democracy. 

Let us spiritually connect--online, in person or on the phone.  Let us bond over ideas of peace and civility.  Most importantly, let us continue to stay connected.  Tonight and tomorrow call your friends and tell them how much you love America.  In all the OWS movements around the world, turn to your neighbor and get their phone number, give them your's and establish a friendship.  Friendships take work, demonstrations take much more work, but this work is an investment in your idividual future, as well as in that of America's. 

Stay safe.  Stay sane.  Stay peaceful.  Stay connected.

How Long?

How long did America think this could last?

How long can we have a health care program biased by greed?
How long can students enroll in college, with no prospect of finding a job after graduation?
How long can national agendas be co-opted by the few?
How long can we have 1-in-6 Americans living in poverty?

How long did America think humanitarians would tolerate two simultaneous wars?
How long did our parent's generation think we would be silent?
How long did you spend studying for standardized tests?
How long did we wait to begin a movement?

How long will Zuccotti Park be Liberty Plaza?
How long will the answer to 1984 be 1776?
How long will we argue about taxes?
How long will the answer to 9/11 be 9/17?

How about we come together?
How about we get a message and commit to change?
How about we stay off the couch?
How about we STAY CONNECTED!

Defining the Undefinable

I'll begin by saying, as a blogger, I've found it challenging to describe what I consider undescribable.  Nationwide movements are sprouting so quickly and the focuses within Zuccotti Park, leap omnipotently on a whim.  At the General Assembly meetings, there is an overarching agenda of containment and cohesion.  Tonight, the GA was held at 7pm and the human microphone (people repeating what the speaker says, in unison and in waves, known as "generations") was being drowned-out by a nearby drum-circle.  It was directly suggested by a demonstrator that we ask the drum circle to wrap it up and a someone was dispatched to speak with them.  They returned, speaking--via the human microphone--from the periphery of a crowd of about 800 people, and said that the drummers were playing a sacred Native American song and needed another ten minutes.  The General Assembly speaker proposed we continue our meeting, adding an extra generation of the human microphone, to ensure all demonstrators could hear proposals and announcements over the drumming.  It worked. 

Occupy Wall Street is still not 100% clear on goals or a means by which to attain them.  This apparent weakness to some, is in fact the very nature of this democratic demonstration and affords OWS the ability to jump from the digital world, into physical form in a square in Boston...or Cincinnati...or Atlanta.  The glue feels strongest during General Assembly meetings, where tough love will result in someone who speaks out of turn being drowned out via the human microphone.  It works remarkably well.

The fact is, my generation does not know how to demonstrate.  We read it during our high school global studies class and we joked about our parents attending Woodstock at the dining room table, but these were mere fairy tales.  Shackled and submerged by computers, video games and MTV, we spent much of our youths in a virtual isolation.  Sure we played little league and maybe even varsity ball.  We joined frats and had keg parties when we got to college.  We never knew what it meant to mobilize as a single unit until right now...

Screens tell us our grades, our bank balance and what to do at work.  Clearly, we are still relying on them as one was recently installed in Zuccotti Park, in an effort to improve communications and assist hearing impaired demonstrators.  But these screens we grew up on are tied to monolithic institutions, relegated to their own private islands where the sole commodity is profits.  Our generation was effectively buying-in to the corporate agenda; it's no wonder our skills shrank and our jobs were outsourced. 

As millions of students pump our economy with billions of dollars of student loans, with little prospect of finding a job to repay their debt, Occupy Wall Street appears the closest thing to an answer.  Right now, for the future of America, the buck stops at Occupy Wall Street.  Whether this movement can coalesce to create substantive change remains to be seen.  As I said, we are new to this.  Furthermore, the media is new to covering something like OWS.  Gen-Xers at the helm of media insitutions are not nimble enough to contemplate these uprisings--they grew up during a time of relative peace and prosperity and frankly do not have the experience, nor the skills to process the spectacle that has bloomed in Zuccotti Park. 

Grassroots activism in Zuccotti Park has a heavy emphasis on infrastructure.  Kitchen (which is currently outsourced and paid for by donations), Media, Volunteering, Finance and of course the Library.  The audacity of our generation to form our own democratic "society" is bolstered by the very spectacle of the location.  While banks or big business may not be the end-all villain, Occupy Wall Street is clearly an affront to their very being.

Tearing the fabric of history

The idea to grow a movement from an occupied Manhattan park is proof that many millenials wish to hit the proverbial reset button on their emotional, intellectual, professional and political lives.  As of Monday night, they have been given carte blanche to do so by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  The only caveat to this deal appears to be a new construction project, on the corner of Broadway and Liberty, where jackhammers may be jostling the nerves of demonstrators all night.  It is unlikely that this will drive protesters out.  However, with news breaking that the OWS movement in Boston is being raided, construction should be the last thing on our minds. 

My generation is growing up

In New York City, it is miraculous to see the civility, organization and cohesion of this movement as it is still taking shape.  It is, in fact, in an incubation period and very much in its infancy.  As one of the speakers stated at tonight's General Assembly, "It's time to GROW UP!"

After having successfully garnered the constant attention of the mainstream media...

...and fundraising $5,000 overnight for just one of the dozen-plus sub-groups that Occupy Wall Street has birthed...

...for an Art show (I know, the businessman in me finds it funny too, but still).  Plenty of clean cut people in their late twenties and early thirties are supporting:

I will not deny there is plenty of radical activism occuring...

...this is begotten by fear, anger and outrage...

Anti-Corporate sentiment is high and one mantra adopted by the participants hails from Ghandi's movements:

Many feel America's values have been and are currently askew:

At the Southwest corner of Zuccotti Park, drums are banging and flags are flying, as a nearby sign at a commercial establishment reads "Internet"



"There's something happening here"

"There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people."  --Paul Krugman

This blog is an examination of the recent events occuring nationwide called "Occupy Wall Street."  It is an attempt at disambiguation of the mixed messages, a forum for unedited discussion/comments and a quest for clarity as to where individuals stand with respect to this movement. 

Submissions for photographs, video and audio will be accepted via email at occupiedblogger@gmail.com

I am in no way affiliated with Occupy Wall Street and the only 2 connections I recognize as being representative of this movement are:

http://nycga.cc/

http://occupywallst.org/

After attending the protest at Zuccotti Park (which is now dubbed "Liberty Square" by the protesters) on Friday, 10/7, from 12:30pm - 10:30pm, I am compelled to write. 

The vibe on the sidewalks, as well as inside the park (an area which has been turned into a modern version of a hippie commune), is something I have never felt in my 29 years on this Earth.  I imagine this is as close to a 1960s protest as America has come since the audaciousness of the 1967 "Levitate the Pentagon" demonstration.
 

This protest was spawned by Abbie Hoffman and a coalition of 150 loosely intra-connected organizations, with a goal of levitating the Pentagon into the air, turning it a different color and exorcising "evil spirits."  However unlike this remarkable event, the goals of Occupy Wall Street have yet to be established and the initial organization of todays demonstration were minimal. 

Occupy Wall Street began when a protester named Bob, along with about a dozen members/enthusiasts of the Canadian Culture Jamming group AdBusters, setup sleeping bags in Zuccotti Park, on September 17th, 2011.  Over 3 weeks, it grew exponentially in New York City, garnering support from unions such as 1199, the UFT, Transit Workers as well as Pilots.  It is now ground zero for the largest American movement since the anti-war efforts during the Vietnam War era. 

The median age amongst protesters appears to be 30.  Many protesters are gainfully employed, while some are students and all are unified by a cohesive rage, which has been building for the past decade.  These are people who pay taxes, vote and have seen their economic security shaken, since 2008 (and possibly before).  Unlike the Levitate the Pentagon demonstration, the US is now engaged on two warfronts.  Trillions of taxpayer dollars have been used to wage war in an unstable region of the globe.  These wars have questionable intentions and grew from a single event, on 9/11/2001. 

This event, half of which occurred a mere block away from Zuccotti Park, has now defined a generation of American's experience with our nation.  It lead to the enactment of The Patriot Act, whereby government grew while civil rights and privacy eroded.  As America plodded along during the early-mid 2000s, with flags flying high, our economic prosperity, closely tied to the housing sector, blossomed.  The War Machine revved and the Dow Jones Industrials Index soared, as a result of exploitation of the deregulation during the 1990s.  While America flew 1960s era warplanes over the Middle East, state-of-the-art financial instruments, particularly derivatives, set new benchmarks in the equities, real estate and commodities markets.  Control over the international and domestic agendas narrowed to the squint of shortsightedness. 

Suddenly, in September 2008, the party ended.  Large insurance, banking and financial institutions came to the realization that the numbers on their statements, systems and blackberries did not add up to anything positive.  Intrabank lending, the heart of America's financial system, ground to a halt.  Our government was informed that unless a limitless amount of cash was immediately infused into the financial sector, ATMs would stop spitting out bills, credit cards would not function and there would be martial law.  The fear was reaffirmed, when on Monday, 9/28 2008, the "bail out" plan was rejected by Congress--the Dow lost 777points. 

During 2009, the housing sector--the anchor for the most popular derivatives--plummeted.  Hard working homeowners soon realized that the value of their home was less than the dollar amount on their mortgage statements--they were effectively underwater on their homes.  This became known as the bursting of the housing bubble.  Worse yet, during 2010, unemployment began to skyrocket to a point of immeasurable levels--persons underemployed, those who had given up looking for work and those whose unemployment benefits had lapsed were left out of our equations. 

2011 saw an uptick in all markets, except housing.  This flash of hope was leveraged by Quantitative Easing ("printing" funds backed by the auction of treasuries to foreign nations) and cheap money.  For a few months, unemployment numbers tapered.  This anomaly occured irrespective of systemic economic problems, such as fractional reserve banking, recently retweaked derivatives and general insolvency. 

On September 17th, when the occupation of Wall Street began, a new bubble burst.  Today, America is entrenched in a call to action that is growing so rapidly, that specific goals and demands cannot yet be established.  This bubble cannot be measured by computers, it cannot be quantified by quarterly reports and it cannot be captured by the mainstream media.  Occupy Wall Street is the explosion of average American frustration, leveraged by the age of digital information.  It is the plurality of disaffected citizens, who are now finding parities of this movement close to their homes.  Occupy Wall Street has put the idea of demonstration back into democracy.  As Marshall McLuhan stated, "The medium is the message."