{"id":24455,"date":"2011-10-13T07:30:24","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T11:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/2011\/10\/13\/occupy-wall-street-what-you-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2011-10-13T07:30:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T11:30:24","slug":"occupy-wall-street-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/10\/13\/occupy-wall-street-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Occupy Wall Street: What You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Sizemore Letter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You can\u2019t turn on a TV or pick up a newspaper without seeing a mention of the Occupy Wall Street protests that are being held across the country.\u00a0 Yet as often as the protests are mentioned, there is surprisingly little information about who these protesters are\u2014and who they are not\u2014and what exactly it is that they want.<\/p>\n

The movement has been compared to the Arab Spring<\/strong> and particularly to the Tahrir Square Egyptian protests that brought down the regime of Hosni Mubarak.\u00a0 It\u2019s also been called a \u201cTea Party for the Left,\u201d<\/strong> in a nod to the original Tea Party movement that has now become a powerful fixture in the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why.\u00a0 Camped out in tents and demanding radical change, the Wall Street Occupiers look<\/em> like the Tahrir Square protesters, at least on the surface.\u00a0 And somewhat paradoxically, given that the Occupy Wall Street crowd hails mostly from the political left, they share many of the same complaints voiced by the Tea Party\u2014disgust with the bailout culture, revulsion at the influence that Wall Street has on both political parties, indignation at taxpayer money being used (at least indirectly) to pay banker bonuses, etc.<\/p>\n

But beyond these superficialities, Occupy Wall Street has little else in common with either Tahrir Square or the Tea Party.<\/p>\n

Who Are They?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bulk of Occupy Wall Street fit the typical demographic of political protestors\u2014young, white, relatively affluent, idealistic and politically left-leaning\u2014the basic demographic you would expect to see a Berkeley political rally. \u00a0\u00a0But the movement also includes its share of socialists, communists, radical libertarians, anarchists, union members and even a small contingent of conservatives.\u00a0 \u00a0And more recently, organized labor unions have joined the fray.<\/p>\n

New York Magazine<\/em> did a survey of political views among the protesters and found that:<\/p>\n