FT: #OccupyWallstreet ‘cannot be ignored’


8:01 am - October 17th 2011

by Sunny Hundal    


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Wow, this is very nice surprise.

The Financial Times has published an editorial today supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement.

It says:

So far the protests in the US have been largely peaceful. They may be diffuse and inchoate. But the fundamental call for a fairer distribution of wealth cannot be ignored. What is at stake is the future of the American dream. The bargain has always been that all who work hard should have an opportunity for prosperity. That dream has been shattered by a crisis brought about by financial excess and political cynicism. The consequence has been growing in­equality, rising poverty and sacrifice by those least able to bear it – all of which are failing to deliver economic growth.

The frustration of protesters railing against the global financial system, and of the 54 per cent of Americans who polls suggest support their calls, is legitimate. The wonder is why it has taken so long for citizens to come out in popular protest across political boundaries. For the last three years, the country has been paralysed by a political gridlock that has put its future on the line.
…
Politicians in both camps have failed to spot and channel the righteous anger of those who have seen government spend billions on bailing out banks, while bickering over how to create jobs or educate children. One opportunity after another has been squandered – most recently in the failure promptly to pass a proper jobs bill.

It ends by saying that this “cry for change” must be “heeded”.

Last week the New York Times also published an editorial supporting the OWS movement.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. David Wearing

You can expect intelligent capitalists to take these protests seriously.

The system they support, and upon which their wealth and privilege depends, is losing popular legitimacy. Widespread discontent is a predictable symptom of what’s happening in the economy, and the more loudly its articulated, the more of a threat it becomes.

So sensible capitalists will now be thinking about how they can restore the legitimacy of the system – or at least deflate some of the anger towards it. The American New Deal, the post-war Keynesian consensus, European social democracy, all came out of a similar process in the middle of the twentieth century. They were the creations of rationally self-interested capitalists who understood that their system needed a degree of popular legitimacy, or at least acquiescence, in order to survive and go forward on a sustainable basis.

The people who simply dismiss the protests, and who show no serious interest in their cause, are the religious fanatics so devoted to the status quo that any questioning even of its most obvious failings brings them out in a fit of hysterics. You can expect the more sensible capitalists to ignore them.

2. buck damp leather

cant we just borrow more money from the arabs and chinese? Who cares about future generations?

All this talk about living within our means is BOGUS and it makes me so angry that i want to smash you. Its so UNFAIR !!!

3. PRPR

Thoughts on the rise of Occupy Wall Street: http://bit.ly/ncPL4h

4. conspiracy detective

How long will people walk blindly and not see what is happening in the world. New world order is coming, look out.


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

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  2. Geoffrey Pearson

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  3. sunny hundal

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  25. Lauren G

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  26. SecretDemocrats

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  28. Tim Ireland

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  29. Alex Braithwaite

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  36. Ana Lopez

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  47. Alan Finlayson

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  48. Stephen Baker

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  51. Penny

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  52. Ali R?za Ta?kale

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  53. jason brown

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  54. David Wearing

    Intelligent capitalists – like the FT editors – know they've a major legitimacy problem to address http://t.co/eGg49Ist #OccupyLSX

  55. Moonbootica

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  56. James

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  57. Amanda Wilkinson

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  58. F8wltastic

    FT: #OccupyWallstreet ‘cannot be ignored’ | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/3zrmHQfs via @libcon #OWS

  59. Sean Brannan

    Intelligent capitalists – like the FT editors – know they've a major legitimacy problem to address http://t.co/eGg49Ist #OccupyLSX

  60. KatherineCurtisTyler

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  62. David Prats

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  63. Fabien Beaudet

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