What Hath the OWS Wrought?

Contrary to what many who read here might believe, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is not a spontaneous, homegrown movement. Actually, the movement was initiated by a Canadian activist group called Adbusters, known for its anti-consumerist views as expressed in its magazine of the same name, on Sept. 17, 2011. In fact, the idea was first expressed in a blog post in Adbusters as early as July 13, 2011.

Additionally, on Oct. 13, 2011, Reuters News Service reported that Adbusters is funded by the Tides Center which functions as a massive clearinghouse of donations to numerous liberal groups and is generously funded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute. George Soros is a Hungarian-born business magnate and philanthropist who has donated to various causes, mostly of the progressive-liberal nature. It is safe to say that Soros is a firmly entrenched member of the 1% that is so hated by the OWS movement.

Having established that much, I would like to review the various accomplishments of the OWS movement to date.

At this point I would confess to feeling a sense of confusion about the dearth of accomplishments of the OWS movement. Has the OWS actually crystallized a formal statement about what it hopes to accomplish with any specificity? Has any government agency or corporation made any significant changes in policy based on the OWS movement? Has anything changed in the way our government is doing business? The Super Committee failed (big surprise there) and the deficit spending goes on as far as the eye can see. See, here’s the point: Back in 2009/2010 people were fed up with the way the government was spending money and growing at astronomical rates so different groups with various concerns began to gel and actually accomplished something by electing representatives, senators, and governors that would agree to do their bidding. It was called the Tea Party and some are now trying to compare the OWS to the Tea Party movement but there is really no comparison. So, the OWS hit the streets on Sept. 17 and has until November 2012 to get some candidates up there to challenge the status quo, and what have they accomplished so far? Well, Barack Obama says he understands their frustration even though he populated his cabinet with Wall Street insiders that were instrumental in the bailouts of 2008 and walked away with their own fortunes intact. In fact, Jon Corzine was Obama’s “Wall Street inside man.” How’s that worked out? And then we have Nancy Pelosi standing with the Occupiers. ‘Nuff’ said on that subject.

Anyway, where are those who will champion the cause of the OWS gang? Maybe Michael Moore will make a documentary that will tilt the scales. At this point I would welcome any comment on this subject that could verify for us what the OWS movement has accomplished that will actually change anything.

So, with that out of the way I would now like to review the downside of the OWS movement to date.

Here are a few of the negative aspects of the numerous encampments: rape, death by drug overdose, death by shooting, robbery, destruction of private and public property, free sex, rampant drug use, public nudity, the spread of disease and filth through the use of the streets and private property as bathrooms, non-participants spit upon, non-participants blocked from free access to the streets to go to work or wherever they need to be, the loss of wages of workers hindered from access to their places of employment, loss of jobs, business closings, rising cost to taxpayers to accommodate the OWS via police overtime and clean-up of sites, disease in the form of “Zuccotti Lung,” tuberculosis, STDs, HIV, etc.

One successful, small-businessman who boasted as to never having laid off a worker in 30 years saw an opportunity earlier this year to open a coffee shop on Wall Street as he had done successfully in other cities. Once the OWS hit, for the first time in 30 years, he was forced to lay off 21 employees in the new store due to a loss of business brought on by the occupation.

And then there was the rape at Occupy Philadelphia. Apparently, there was at least one person at the encampment who heard screams coming from the tent where the rape occurred but thought that he was just overhearing some wild sex.

And some people are suggesting that the occupation is beginning to lose relevancy. I’m still trying to figure out when it ever had any relevancy.

On another front, officials in various cities have pampered the demonstrators and that, I believe, is the main reason why the movement has lasted so long. In some places, the Occupiers were allowed to demonstrate and camp out indefinitely without permits whereas the Tea Party was required to obtain permits for one-day-only events. In Los Angeles, it has been reported that rather than disperse the crowd that is thumbing its nose at city regulations governing such matters, city officials offered the protesters 10,000 square feet of indoor office space and other incentives to vacate the City Hall lawn where they have set up encampments illegally. It is important to note that while the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, the right to peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, there is no guarantee that grants the right to set up housing on public lands at the taxpayers’ expense indefinitely or at all, for that matter.

So much for what Occupy Wall Street has accomplished. Please, by all means, if I am missing something, set me straight and help us all understand the accomplishments of the OWS movement.