Occupy Wall Street

The Occupy Wall Street movement, which swept across the United States as thousands demanded that government institutions change to help fix a struggling economy, gained a major boost as the world began to come together in solidarity over shared economic frustrations. Protests have lasted for 31days and many are wondering how long a leaderless, vaguely defined movement will last. With the help of continued economic discontent, growing media coverage, and the use of internet and social media in bringing possible demonstrators together, the movement seems to be gaining speed. Over the weekend, 19 more people were arrested in Washington, D.C., by Supreme Court police, while over 90 were taken into police custody in New York. There are several causes, but the main theme remains the same: populist anger over an out-of-touch corporate, financial, and political elite. Many are wondering whether Occupy Wall Street will eventually become a liberal counterweight to the conservative populism of the tea party movement. If the tea party was a conservative response to President Barack Obama's economic bailout plan in the spring of 2009, Occupy Wall Street came about partly due to liberals' reaction to the outcome of this summer's bitter debt-ceiling debate. Obama and other top Democrats ultimately agreed to over $2 trillion in spending cuts without any tax hikes on Wall Street financiers or others considered responsible for the economic crisis.

I thought this was interesting considering that we've been studying the influences of public opinion on what politicians pay attention to and the importance of political elites.

Source: CNN