The Moral Force of OWS is Tackling the Devastating War on the Poor

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/story/152988/the_moral_force_of_ows_is_tackling_the_devastating_war_on_the_poor/

We’ve been at war for decades now -- not just in Afghanistan or Iraq, but right here at home. Domestically, it’s been a war against the poor, but if you hadn’t noticed, that’s not surprising. You wouldn’t often have found the casualty figures from this particular conflict in your local newspaper or on the nightly TV news. Devastating as it’s been, the war against the poor has gone largely unnoticed -- until now.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has already made the concentration of wealth at the top of this society a central issue in American politics. Now, it promises to do something similar when it comes to the realities of poverty in this country.

By making Wall Street its symbolic target, and branding itself as a movement of the 99%, OWS has redirected public attention to the issue of extreme inequality, which it has recast as, essentially, a moral problem. Only a short time ago, the “morals” issue in politics meant the propriety of sexual preferences, reproductive behavior, or the personal behavior of presidents. Economic policy, including tax cuts for the rich, subsidies and government protection for insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and financial deregulation, was shrouded in clouds of propaganda or simply considered too complex for ordinary Americans to grasp.

[Ship of Fools]

1. "...or simply considered too complex for ordinary Americans to grasp."

That's it in a nutshell. Ayup! We be too stoopid to unnerstan anythin bout things finanshul.

[s-cubed]

2. I went to one of the Occupy sites yesterday after attending the pipeline rally.

I talked to a volunteer nurse in the first aid tent. She said she needed cold medications, but nothing with lots of drugs or alcohol, because there were a lot of people with drug problems. She also said about half the people are homeless, and the other half are young people who can't find work. We have a high cost of living here, and a relatively low unemployment rate, so I would interpret this as not being able to find work that offers enough to live on.