Wealth In America

The Occupy Wall Street movement entered its second month a couple of days ago. I think that surprises some people -- people who were sure it was just some radical anarchist hippies who hated America and would go away after they demonstrated for a few days. But these weren't radicals or anarchists or hippies (although many were young people). It turned out that these protesters struck a chord among many ordinary Americans -- citizens who were worried about corporate greed, the vast inequality of wealth & income, and politicians who only seemed to care about the rich.

Instead of dying out, the demonstrations have morphed into a grassroots movement. It spread first to other large American cities, and then to the smaller cities and towns. Now it has grown to include cities around the world (over 1500 of them last weekend). And it looks like the movement may grow even larger.

There are those now saying that as colder and nastier weather moves in (as it surely will with winter coming on) the movement will die out. The protesters will simply not be able to brave the weather and continue the occupation of Wall Street (which is still the symbols for all the protests around the country and around the world). I don't think so. If the weather gets too bad the movement might have to change its tactics, but it is already too large to die out altogether.

"Economic Justice" is an issue that has needed to be addressed for a while now. The Occupy Wall Street movement has brought that issue to the forefront. It will not go away even if the Wall Street occupation does. Where does the movement go from here. I honestly don't know. But the politicians and financial power-brokers can no longer ignore it -- if they do it will be at their own peril.

As the chart above shows, things have gotten out of whack in this country (and around the world). Even the usually ultra-conservative International Monetary Fund (IMF) is getting scared of how the current economic crises is being handled. This group of international bankers and financial experts has traditionally been in favor of budget-cutting (which has been their solution for nearly every economic problem). But the IMF is now warning governments that they are going too far with cutbacks -- and may be making the recession worse.

The economic policies currently being followed can only lead to further disaster. They must be changed -- and changed in the direction of more economic justice and a more equal distribution of income and wealth. The people are asking for that change -- and soon they will be demanding it.

Creepy Ben Stein Defends Accused Rapist

There are some people that just creep you out when you look at them. Ben Stein (pictured) is one of those people for me. Stein is a creationist and conservative apologist, but probably is best known for his commercials for Visine eye drops and FreeCredit.com (which is far from free). Now he has added something else to his repertoire -- defender of rapists and attacker of victims.

As you may know, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested in New York City for trying to rape a hotel maid. He is being held without bail for now. This is not the first time to be accused of sexual impropriety for Strauss-Kahn. Back in 2008 he coerced a female economist who worked under him to engage in an affair. He obviously thinks since he is an important international financier he can have his way with women who have little power.

But Stein never met a banker he didn't like. In a column for the conservative magazine American Spectator Stein sprang to the defense of Strauss-Kahn and attacked his victim. Here is some of what he wrote:

I have had hotel maids that were complete lunatics, stealing airline tickets from me, stealing money from me, throwing away important papers, stealing medications from me. How do we know that this woman’s word was good enough to put Mr. Strauss-Kahn straight into a horrific jail?


The prosecutors say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn “forced” the complainant to have oral and other sex with him. How? Did he have a gun? Did he have a knife? He’s a short fat old man. They were in a hotel with people passing by the room constantly, if it’s anything like the many hotels I am in. How did he intimidate her in that situation? And if he was so intimidating, why did she immediately feel un-intimidated enough to alert the authorities as to her story?

I could understand someone saying Strauss-Kahn is innocent until proven guilty, because that is how our system of law works. But Stein's unwarranted attack on a victim of sexual assault is beyond the pale. I had thought Stein couldn't get much lower than his disingenuous defense of creationism in the fundie film Expelled. I was wrong. He has found a way to get lower.

If the accused had been a sports figure or Hip-Hop artist, Stein would have been one of the first to condemn the crime. But it was a rich and powerful banker, so Stein attacked the victim instead. I'm beginning to think there is no bottom for this creep.