OCWS

OCCUPY WALL STREET

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City's Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district which began on September 17, 2011. Initiated by Canadian activist group Adbusters. Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders  and political persuasions. The one thing they all have in common is that they Are The 99% that  will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%(Corporate people). "We are the 99%" is a political slogan and an implicit economic claim of "Occupy" protesters. It refers to the increased concentration of wealth since the 1970s among the top 1% of income earners in the United States. In 2007 the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country's total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%. Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country's wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15%. Financial inequality was greater than inequality in total wealth, with the top 1% of the population owning 42.7%, the next 19% of Americans owning 50.3%, and the bottom 80% owning 7%. However, after the Great Recession which started in 2007, the share of total wealth owned by the top 1% of the population grew from 34.6% to 37.1%, and that owned by the top 20% of Americans grew from 85% to 87.7%. The Great Recession also caused a drop of 36.1% in median household wealth but a drop of only 11.1% for the top 1%, further widening the gap between the 1% and the 99%.During the economic expansion between 2002 and 2007, the income of the top 1% grew 10 times faster than the income of the bottom 90%. In this period 66% of total income gains went to the 1%, who in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928 COMMUNICATIONS New York City requires a permit to use "amplified sound," including electric bullhorns. Since Occupy Wall Street does not have a permit, the protesters have created the "human microphone" in which a speaker pauses while the nearby members of the audience repeats the phrase in unison. The effect has been called "comic or exhilarating—often all at once. " Some feel this has provided a further unifying effect for the crowd  Funding  Various sources report that OWS has received as much as $500,000 in donations as of October 27, 2011 Several wealthy supporters have joined the protest, and have started a blog, westandwiththe99percent, in which they say, "I am the 1%. I stand with the 99%," and give their stories.The granddaughter of oil tycoon H. L. Hunt, Leah Hunt-Hendrix, 28, was quoted as saying “We should acknowledge our privilege and claim the responsibilities that come with it.” Farhad Ebrahimi, 33, has been participating in the Occupy Boston protest wearing a T-shirt that says, "Tax me. I'm good for it."