The protesters are protesting the wrong street, as much as their claims are justified it was not Banks that caused the meltdown in the economy, it was the lack of regulation from the Federal Reserve which allowed banks to over leverage themselves. A woman complained how the taxpayer bailed out the banks, no it was politicians who voted for TARP after tthey were led, by fear to this decision by than Treasury Secretary Hank Paulison and Ben Bernankhe in closed door meetings. Where was the transparency? Was it Wall Street that approved a 524 million dollar loan to a failed Green Company who happen to be an Obama Campaign Donor? Was it a Wall Street Banker who allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 2 failed GSA's to lower its underwriting standards to begin underwriting sub prime loans? Was it a hedge fund manager that allowed state pension obligations to go un-funded in every state from New Jersey to California? Especially during a time when revenues were up? Why is it our neighbors to the North, Canada, are growing their economy at a GDP rate of 4% and are currently at a 5% unemployment rate and did not have a housing meltdown? Was it Wall Street who successfully de stabalized the middle east by over throwing a nation, creating and fabricating an entire lie of the existence of WMD's? Billions of dollars wasted thousands of lives lost in a country that will inevitably fall into the control of IRAN. Why do we continue to give our politicians a pass and blame the private sector?

Well - basically the corporations have bought our government. It's no secret. why is everyone acting so confused about it. Occupy Wall Street is OBVIOUSLY a response to that. I mean - I've been down there several times, they're very articulate and intelligent, and expressing many demands that spring from that one basic fact.

@Ricky...so your grievance should not be aimed at corporations....your grievance as I noted should be toward FDA for accepting the buy off...FDA was created to PROTECT consumers, if consumer protection has been compromised, it is the failure of the regulatory body which was created, failure not just by corruption but also by wasteful spending.

Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Mario hit it on the money. Big government means big problems, and look no further than Barny Franks and his relationship with Fanny and Fredie as a start to this problem.

@Maria it is obvious corporations have bought our government through lobbyist, respond by marching on corporations and not on Washington?.Susan Sarandon, stated she is standing in solidarity with her Muslim brother and sister in their fight for inequality...muslim demonstrations in the middle east are against their governments, Greece demonstration are against the government,as a matter of fact in Greece of 11 million citizens 70% are employed by their government.Wthout the private sector their is no government, corporations create jobs and pay taxes, we have the highest corp tax rate in the world I am cynical enough to believe the demonstration which began on Wall St is a movement created by Andy Stern and SEIU . this is nothing less than class warfare, and the President himself has engaged in this type of destructive campaigning...he certainly i snot campaigning with the same style and eloquence he did 3 years ago, what happen to "Hope and Change"? What hapen to changing the way Washington Operates? What happen to ending special interest? What happen to ending the wars by the end of my 2nd year? What happen to by passing the stimulus we would reduce un employment to 8%? According to my GPS the Protesters are about 300 miles off the mark, Pennsylvannia Ave is in Washington not downtown NY
No comment from the White House or the Press Corp condeming the Protest, Van Jones former job Czar gave his solidarity recently...I voted for Obama and am disappointed

This whole demonstration and Obama's class warfare tactics are all designed to divert attention away from what caused the financial meltdown, as well as the massive failure of the Obama Presidency. The cause of the financial meltdown was due to the well-intentioned relaxtion of credit regulations. This led to natural and unrealistic desires to obtain wealth. Pretty much all of us took part in that to varying extents. The mother of all debt bubbles was created and we are now seeing the effects of that bubble bursting. Obama was elected due to the peoples belief that he really was going to be a new kind of President, one that was honest and transparent, without all the pork politics of the past. Unfortunately, the mass media not only failed to do their due dilligence on the man, but effectively campaigned for him. He is an empty suit marxist and his policies have been disasterous and have made matters much worse. The problems with our economy are now so bad, and will be so long-lasting, that I don't think anyone who would make a good President will want to run, being that we now have such short periods of high expectations. However, I do hope that we can get this man out of the White House.

My message to those occupying Wall Street is simple. Yes, it sucks when all your expected CHANGE does not materialize the way you had HOPED it would. But, to blame 1% is irresponsible. The bucks stops with the men working on Pennsylvania Ave, not Wall Street. Further, the fact that you are welcoming support from unions, is in my mind very hypocritical, as Obama's pandering to Unions (jobs bill aimed to improve bridges, roads, schools) does little to actually inhance skills and create jobs for those that can not find middle class work.

Obama has sent mixed signals to "Wall Street" since September of 2008. Couple those mixed signals with the socialized messes in Europe and this is the reason why we have not seen a recovery.

Actually the private sector is growing, not at the 3.5% rate we need but Corporation have successfully place their balance sheets in a very healthy state...the biggest problem is local state and federal governement are running huge deficits and due to the collaspe of the housing market one of the drivers of our economy, they are seeing revenues diminish. The Federal reserve is running interest rates at 0% and are using every trick they can to continue to manipulate interest rates, so the governement can continue its spending...here is the biggest problems the governement spending is going in all the wrong places...Solyndra...AIG...and GM...with all the bailout money think about it, whay has been accomplished??? The government has since dismantled Sallie Mae, one of the best resources for students to recieve student loans, why??? A student today recieving a student loan is paying in access of 13% for a student loan...where is the Federal Reserve??? if they are lending at 0% why is it Citi who we the taxpayer bailed out is lending our kids money at 13%??? Not to mention when you call CITI they employ in India...and we bailed them out??? Capitalism is to take risk and fail, if the banks took risk, they should have failed and re qrganized, perhaps the blow would have been dire, but today our banking system would have learned they would not have had the government standing as a back stop to re capitalize them.

Real wages, wages adjusted for inflation, have largely been stagnant of over 10 years. This despite large gains in employee productivity. Where has the revenue for those gains gone, look to corporate profits and executive pay and you'll find it.
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We're a consuption driven economy. While wages were stagnant people consumed more because they felt more wealthly due at first to the stock bubble of the 90s and later to the real estate bubble. With those bubbles burst people are spending less and the economy is tanking. If we want to see this economy get moving again real wages need to rise.
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Rising wages will increase consumption, which will give banks confidence to lend money out to people to start new businesses and for existing businesses to expand this will drive increases in employment rates.
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Monetary policy has done all it can to get us out of this mess, it's now time for fiscal policy, Congress and the President, to move.

@ FAP wages have not grown for decades, agreed...it wasnt the stock market which made people feel rich, it was the availability of credit...most folks stock market portfolios are either tied to 401k or retirement accounts, and can not be accessed due to restrictions and the portfolios up to 2008 were still performing well with positive returns, according to morningstar research net flows into mutual funds are relatively the same except for the fact they are allocated with bond portfolios versus equity...People were speculating on real estate, they were borrowing against their equity for everything from improvements, to college cost, to consolidating credit card debt whichin 2007 had hit an all time high, the average citizen in the US had 30k in Credit card debt.. I am an advocate of owning stocks, always have been always will...real esates growth was driven with credit, APPLE's growth is attributtal to an excellent company with an excellent product...

@ FAP...I was not referring to your stream as far as insults...you stated your points eloquently, I just happen to disagree...I see Evelyn has used rhetoric referring to people as "teabaggers" because you disagree with acertain group doesnt give anyone the right to name call...I dont agree with far left leaning liberals, but many are very good friends of mine...we respectfully disagree...I dont agree with calling the President names, he is our President until such a point he does not defend the constitution of the US, until than I respect him, but I dont have to agree with him...

Mario, why in your first comment you blame the government because they didn't have the financial sector regulated ( heaven forbid they just do the right thing on their own and when they don't we just don't blame them), then you go on to say it is Obama's fault because he spent the first two years with financial regulation?

This Wall St. demonstration has all the makings of the 60's protests against the Vietnam War. So don't be surprised if sometime down the road, the city declares they cannot remain there any longer, the police move in which then provokes a riot bringing in the state police and if it doesn't end there, the national guard.

GREAT DEBATE though I enjoy the dialougue

@Bellair No I am not....we have had regulation, we have all sorts of agencies, and we have a broken system that doesnt work, can you name one just one Government Agency or Government Program that works??? If the existing agencies did their job, banks would have never leveraged themselves, rating agencies would have never rated the CMO's and HUD would have never pressed FNMA and Freddie Mac tolower its standards....another point....we have the FBI, NSA and CIA each dept knew there were terrioirist here learning how to fly planes, they knew and did nothing, so the answer is another dept...Dept of Homeland Security another Government Agency...thats efficent???

@Bellair.Everyone had a hand in it Banks are in business to profit, they are run by reckless people who make mistakes, and are paying a serious price, reflective in thier stock price, the entire index is down since 2008.Lehman Bro and Bear Sterns are dead,but it doesnt excuse the fact that the government, lawmakers, pressured banks to sell loans to unqualified individuals, and regulators and Fed members backed the plan.Housing "was" a major driver of our economy for the last decade, and it was the driver due to reckless credit standards, not by design a model created by lawmakers to increase homeownership in America,home ownership is not a right and as I pointed out in a previous stream,Canada did not experience a housing bubble burst, or a banking crisis with their national banks...they did not lower their mortgage standards.My point if the existing regulatory agencies had done their job efficienty, had lawmakers not developed a plan for home ownership. had the SEC audited the rating agencies, had the banking dept audited the capitalization of banks, had the FED included House value appreciation as inflationary, interest rates would not have been manipulated.... home values would not have bubbled...we learned one thing from this event... bubbles pop and no regulation in the world can prevent that...we needed to clean up the existing regulators and agencies.Dodd Frank Financial Reform did not do this.It added more inefficiencies to an alreay ineffiecient system...

@Bellair, if you feel Government has no responsibility in this mess and the entire fault rest on Wall street Bankers can you explain to me how it is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...two GSA's are now in recievership? where was the Senate over sight committee who extends and oversees GSA's?

Malcolm from Mahwah: Are you kidding you better get some better info about all the people to blame before spilling this junk out to people.The company's have lobbyist to fight to get the laws changed, and they did they got the issue of free trade,they got the banking rules lowered and so on. People get ALL your facts!!
P.S. this goes to all the others who do notbelievee it is themagainsts us!!

@Bellair..I did answer your question...I wrote and you did not read
@Bellair.Everyone had a hand in it, Banks are in business to profit, they are run by reckless people who make mistakes, and are paying a serious price, reflective in thier stock price, the entire index is down since 2008
I happen to "respectfully" disagree with you...and I will not debate you on healthcare law, the truth of the matter is we had healthcare expansion without cost controls through tort reforms and pharmacuetical cost reductions...it seems by your claims of why legislature is created...you give government a pass by not evaluating current agencies and legislature...and you did not respond to me on my question regarding FNMA and Freddie MAC...as far as bank fees...you are not obligated to bank with BOA or any other bank which charges excessive fees you can move your account to TD or any other banking institution. The reason why banks are not making money has nothing to do with Dodd Frank and I never stated that...I stated that Dodd Frank will prevent nothing as did the other 3 agencies which were created by the government which failed at protecting the consumer..banks are not profitable today because of interest rate and credit spreads...which are currently being manipulated as they were in the past by gimmicks implemented by the Federal Reserve...

Billy, I havent made up my mind yet who I am voting for, it sounds to me you are voting for the evil you know rather than the evil we could end up with. I have my own business, as a matter of fact I have owned two businesses in my life sold the 1st one very successful if I may say. I started my second. I travel the US, my clients live in NJ, FL, MO, AZ, NC,NY, CT, PA,CA, TN,MA, IL...at one time they lived in NJ, they moved because of the lack of quality of life in NJ...I manage quite a bit of assets and do a good job, honest, and dedicated, but if I were to do this over, no way...the system is stacked against us...if you are successful and lived within your means and saved...the system wants you to feel guilty for the have nots, and pay your fair share...what the hell does that mean??? People have bankrupted themselves by taking on too much credit and their home values collapsed, why is that Wall St fault? I have no mortgage I havent had one in 10 years, so because my neighbor is under water because he over paid for his house and took an equity line of credit, it is my responsibility to bail him out? It sounds like Greece to me, just in a different place. We'll see what happens. But I will say this, we are dividing as a nation and its not good. The Art of War, Divide them than you can easily conquer them.

Bellair, No you are missing my point, I am saying for centuries we have passed laws to protect the consumer, no law is perfect and needs to be changed, but when men and women who are hired by govt to serve the people and they fail and the public is hurt, no one takes accountability...Alan Greenspan himself said in his book, "the sophistication of CDS were so intense that the most brilliant mathematicians who were employed by the Fed could not understand them" yet the FED, SEC and Banking Dept allowed theses exotic securities in the market. The rating agency continued to rate them, the SEC did not conduct audits of the rating agencies. The banking Dept did not conduct audits of the Banks...that is what I pay taxes for, for these agencies to do their job ...they admitedly failed miserably, so the solution is to get two congressman Dodd and Frank and sponsor yet another bill, had the previously mentioned agencies just done their job, there would not have been a crisis to begin with....as far as me getting where I am alone...I took risk, risk that had I failed the government or the American People would not have bailed me out, but the instant I succeed, I need to shar ethat wealth...why doesn't Alex Baldwin take 200k on his next movie rather than 20 million and spread his wealth around? Hypocritcs tha's all they are...they are not true democrats, they are all for themselves on soap boxes spewing their rhetoric, no different than right wingers

I could never find a bathroom in the city
are there porto potties set up?
I hope they're not.....
could be pretty funky in that section of town
just sayin.....

@Bellair...I am for raising taxes, I am for ending all military action in the middle east, I am for a consumption tax of expensive non essentials on millionaires, Bentleys, 40 room mansions,2nd homes in the hamptons in excess of 1 millions, I am not in favor of taxing small buisiness owners, when a small business owner fails he does not get a bail out or recieves some sort of exemption for his healthcare plan, because he is a political donor, and I am not in favor of allowing students or homeowners forgiveness on their loans, I made it priority to pay my debts, people need to take responsibility for their actions. The middle class have far too long been paying their fair share, and politicians have taken advantage of them, democrats and republicans alike..it is a GAME

Bellair...I will never agree with your point of view, I respectfully disagree with you...I will not drag religion into this debate , you are obviously a progressive liberal who feels govt is the answer to all...as far as who I am, and who and what charities I support, it is none of your business and I think at this point this dialouge between us needs to end..it is not getting nowhere and is becoming emotionally charged...Enjoy your weekend...

I am a Progressive with a moral compass. I don't need the government to tell me what the right thing to do is. You feel it is govt's role to keep you from being immoral. When someone convinces people, many undereducated in finance who look to that mortgage banker as a professional whose word they should trust, to take out mortgages he knows they can never repay, it's not the government's fault because they didn't make a law against it. It's the mortgage banker who badgered and told these people, acting as professionals, to do it anyway. You want to place all the blame on the govt that didn't tell you not to and on the person who believed in your professionalism. You're right. We will never agree.

Wall street punks ruined middle class with greed, Society has finally had enough with these punks too!

Middle class is broke, barely making ends meet. Obama never fixed anything, he saved the rich with bailouts while middle class shrinks! Wall street protesters are correct and should be supported!

Anyojne who purchases a home in America enters into a legal contract normally two...the 1st is called the transfer of deed or title and the 2nd is called the mortgage if there is financing for the purchase..At the closing they have an attorney or a closing agent, this person is responsible for reviewing your documents and explaining to you the fine print.. you pay for your attorney the normal amount is $750-$900....the bank enters into the contract with their attorney hence, definition"closing", unless people were held at gun point by the banks to close the loans, everyone in the history of this amazing process never had a problem till the point when Lawmakers involved with HUD, FNMA and FREDDIE MAC LOWERED it standards and begun accepting SUB PRIME LOANS...SUB PRIME meaning no need to prove income, no need to put money down, no need to show a credit history, absolutely no need, everything was free...can you imagine free homeownership...not just a small cape,nooooooo a MEGA MANSION and if you cant pay for it, dont worry the haves in society will bail you out....and dont forget while the money is free you might as well also buy the shore house while your at it...and guess what when the shitt hits the fan...lets just blame Wall Street their a buch of greedy SOB's who forced this on society....GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

Its ironic that Obama is getting pummeled on the left for doing too little, and from the right for doing too much.

you can check me out on Facebook.com search Gwendolyn Fraticelli and Twitter.com search Gwen Fraticelli am exhorting anyone especially woman who may have come into contact with anyone mentioned in my journals and who may have had a negative experience to reach out to me. This could have been you or it could be you at any given point in life. People should not be afraid of having their voice be heard; in fact people who have had the courage to do so have impacted society as whole (Rosa Parks)

I find it enlightening that many individuals have a difference in opinion, many of those opinions VALID, and it most cases make excellent points and are able to eloquently express those points. But what make this nation great is the idea that we can disagree and perhaps reach a compromise, a compromise that will make difference. We can only reach such a compromise when we begin to respect one another. No name calling of our President, whether you agree with him or not, no name calling because of a perticular party affiliation, and no name calling because of simple disagreement, it is ok to disagree, it is not ok to disrespect one another...name calling is just disrespectful no matter how emotionally charge the debate maybe, I will never stoop to such unacceptable behavior with anyone.

This protest is like the blind leading the blind. They have no idea what they are protesting, they just want more than they have. I wonder how many of these people are actually collecting unemployment...if they certify that they are out looking for work, but are onsite protesting that is fraud and they should be prosecuted.

While they are out protesting Wall Street and the banks they are using their iPhones and video equipment that were created and produced by venture capital dollars. Maybe this group should be out volunteering instead of filling the park with filth and costing the city a fortune in overtime.

Their protests have economically harmed all of the vendors who had to leave the are because they took over the space that was lawfully permitted to the vendors -- how does that make sense?

Saw some kid with a sign that said "Fuck Free Internships" - I suspect his job skills and use of the English language make him a hot commodity.

If the teachers want to join the protest they should resign their tenure and agree to be paid by performance - let's see how many want to give up their comfortable & protected jobs. My guess zero.

Transit workers joining the strike - you guys are low skill labor - how much more should you be paid? Didn't the last union leader go to jail because he violated a court order?

Sure they know what they are protesting. They feel that Wall Street bares a lion's share of the blame for the economic troubles the country and world is facing, but that our government has rewarded Wall Street's bad behavior with bailouts while leaving the middle class with nothing. Essentially the protesters are calling attention to the fact that Wall Street is considered too big to fail, while it's okay to let the middle class fail. Venture capitalists dollars produced the iPhone? Huh?

@Art, I dont believe government rewarded Wall Street anything, I believe the Government was forced into bailing out the banks, simply because they feared additional failures after the fall of Lehman and Bear, My g/f was employed at Bear and till the last day, they were told they were fine...BTW Art you claimed in a previous stream most of the failed loans did not originate from banks, I disagree, Countrywide, Washington Mutual and Wachovia are just a few, when the Treasury along with the FED created "too big to fail" they took the toxic assets of those banks and combined them with healthier banks...BOA was forced by the DOJ to postpone foreclosures on its bad loans, it was the right thing to do...Wachovia= Wells Fargo Washington Mutual= Chase Countrywide=BOA...so the toxic mortgage assets which you described have now appeared on the balance sheets of the healthier banks...as far as your reasoning as to the FED capitalizing banks and them buying Treasuries rather than lending...100% correct

@ Hoboken Townie...funny thing the greatest stock tip of all time was witnessed in a Hollywood Movie which many of us have watched time and time again..."Forest Gump"...LT Dan took some money from the proceeds of Bubba Gump Shrimp and invested it in a "fruit company" as he opned a letter showing the Apple Icon...that movies came out in 1994 had you invested $1000 in Apple Stock in 1994 today the portfolio would have grown to a whopping worth in access of $100,000... Now how many people actually did that or listen to that colorful commentator on CNBC who is nothing more than a cheerleader

@Art it is semantics, rewarding or capitalizing, I disagree with the the entire concept, I feel Banks made poor choices and were not operating as original intentioned, with that said, did the system need to collapse? I dont know the right answer, but I do place repsonsibility with both regulatory agencies which did not do their jobs, including the FED (who maintained interest rates low for a ridiculous amount of time claiming there was no inflation, Alan Greenspan was too old and way over his headas he admitted in his book.)..the banking industry which over leverage themselves and borrowers who took out mortgages they could not afford...there was once a product called a NEGATIVE AMORTIZATION LOAN...this crap should have been illegal, and it was the FED & the Treasury who approved it

I see that professional troublemaker and Son of Westwood James O'Keefe was down at the protest trying to stir up trouble. Kudos to the OWS'ers for not rising to the bait of this professional provocateur. Isn't it time this guy got a real job, not just stirring up poison for Andrew Breitbart?

We have James O'Keefe to thank for bringing down Acorn and Planned Parenthood who we, yes you and me, and the rest of the USA gave many millions of tax dollars for them you use for their own political crap. I thank James O'Keefe. He is a brave young man. Do your research before you bad mouth a true Patriot.

Oh yea, NRP too!!

Maybe the OWS'sers should be the ones getting the jobs....

Everyday when I walk by I have the pleasure of smelling the unclean group of people play drums out of sync....they have become a tourist attraction. This is a case of the media making the story.

These people don't even know for the most part, why they are there. Some are paid, some just want to revisit Woodstock, etc. They need to go home and take showers, and maybe try to get a job from one of the people who provide us with jobs, etc. This administration has not stopped trying to create class warfare and unfortunately, its working, yes hoboken townie, with the help of the media. When is the last time you got a job from a poor person?

Umm. Wow. There's a lot wrong with what you typed. But.....

Someone explain to me why I should give a crap about a class that couldn't possibly care less about the rest of us?

Honestly, the number of idiots in this country who constantly vote against their own economic interests is impressive.

Job creators my ass. It's one thing if you actually run a business, that's far diffident than just being paid very well by Goldman Sachs, yet somehow they are all lumped together, as if they are the same thing. Amazing.

We're all job creators. This is a consumer driven economy, hard to create demand when the people who drive it are hard pressed to keep up.

I'd be happy just to be able to occupy my home without being harassed or having my computer monitored and tampered with thanks to some of you local residents, check out my story at facebook.com seach Gwendolyn Fraticelli or on Twitter.com search Gwen Fraticelli (pictures) you might find some of the really interesting

The last thing most of these dingbats want is work. They now have what they crave. Attention.

You sound like a very exceptional person......

@B&B I am not in anyway comparing the dedication of a teacher or the job of a police officer to buying a stock and please dont not mix words assuming I did, my son is a PO
as far as your opinion on investing being compared to gambling, I disagree...I know folks who spend $100's of dollars a week on gambling on lotteries, had they taken that same money and invested in a mutual fund, I am sure they would still have a dollar and wouldnt have to dream. My stream was in response to a company like APPLE, a job creator and a great American Company...and it has nothing to do with luck, that is your opinion, you can do what you want with your money, no one is telling you to buy stock...I happen to know a little about what I am talking about, it has nothing to do with greed, it is saving for your future and rather than putting into a bank, you decide to buy stocks in American Corporations, you can do this without Wall Street Bankers and purchase the stock directly from the transfer agent...teachers and police officers invest weekly in their 457 plans and retire comfortably by owning mutual funds that invest in stocks, please do not mix word and try to insinuate I am saying traders are hard working. I never said it and never implied it...

Read the Dode/Frank BILL, one a democrat senator the other a democratic congressman, this is a big part of the problem with Banks in America - Great informative education read as to what this bill states and what the banks can and can not do. This law must be eliminated period.

@Deborah Hulbert, I read your stream and feel your frustration, in as much as I agree with you, I have also concluded, both political parties have failed America. They have had more than enough opportunity to change the system "they" created. This sytem did not just appear, and every year politicians collect funds to help them get elected, and these funds are paid by huge donors who want legislature or political pay back. Good, bad or in- different it is wrong. they refuse to change the system. Greed and stupidity is not immune to any political party and the cheerleaders on radio and television would have you believe differently... Corporate America is playing a game on a game board created by our political leaders...they knew what they were doing, they knew the reprucations, and yet they allowed it and continue to allow it, they want your loyality and your votes...

@ART...we come from a philosophical difference in position, my education is in economics and finance, I do not believe in Keynesian Economics, I understand the theory of Keynesian, but John Maynard was to simplistic in his thesis, he believed the Government decision would not be politically motivated. He truly believed as most men in his time, men truly honored their office for the good of country...If you feel the Government decisions in investment bail outs and stimulus is the way to go.. Great, no arguement from me, I wont try to convince you otherwise, But one thing I wont do is quote websites...what I found out to be the case, whether it is from the hard right or hard left, facts are always altered to get their respective points across...I rather do my own research and arrive to my own conclusions on my own. BtW I as I have stated in many other streams...I voted for President Obama, for one reason, he promised he would end the conflict in IRAQ by the end of his 2nd year, I was against GW's war mongering agenda, I was and still am against Afghanistan Libya and any other militray intervention. When I see IRAQI Tanks rolling down Farview Ave, I will take up arms, until than we need to adopt an energy policy and I am not talking about solar panels or battery operated cars either.

Mario, We are of a like mind with regard to non-intervention in foreign wars and the desire to get out as soon as possible. Technically Obama has fulfilled his promise to remove combat troops out of Iraq, but there is not much difference between peacekeepers and combat troops except for perhaps its mission. Also Afghanistan only seemed to get increased focus. However, a republican candidate (with the exception of Ron Paul) would most likely increase our interventionist policies (more of the Bush doctrine). Keynesian practices worked for FDR and if it worked for Obama until the stimulus ran out.

Art...how can you possibly compare macro economics 80 years ago to today? the governement was 1/10th the size it was when FDR was President. Our economy, trade, development and currency valuations have totally changed...You can not draw comparisons and arrive at the same results. Keynesian economics does not sustain growth it causes inflation, and the FED conveniently eliminates certain criteria to justify its actions. As far as Obama and technically fulfilling his promises, I disagree, it is not what he promised as a candidate, your loyality to the democratic party is understandable, he did not allow the Bush Tax cuts to expire to name another failure...I am not endorsing or planning to stand behind any candidate on the republican ticket as of today, it may change but not likely, Ron Paul is a waste of a vote, he can never win, unfortunately, as I have stated in prior streams it is the bigger fund raiser and money getter who wins the prize...I am hoping for the day that average folks realize this about our system. A system which is broken, for which I can not place total blame at the foot of corporate America. Everyone has a hand in the dysfunctional game.

@ Art...do you believe FDR for 1 minute would have approve dteh comingling of teh Social Security Trust Fund with the General Treasury??? If his intention was to comingle such funds he would have never set up a TRUST FUND

Bellair, the banks did nothing illegal. as a matter of fact, had it not been for the community reinvestment laws, many questionable mortgages would not have been made. it's not a bank's job to determine what you can pay, that's the debtor's job. But current society so disdains personal responsibility.

Also, it's not rich people's responsibilty to give any jobs. Being marketable and employable is, again, an individual's responsibility. I've been laid off 4 times, and it was my responsibility to find my own work. And if you want to blame someone, blame an education system who's cost have risen higher than virtually any other cost, yet we graduate illiterates. And liberal arts grads come out with feelgood diplomas that leave them noncompetitive with the rest of the world.

Again, money belongs to the person who made it. Not to the government, not to you, and not to someone who believes they're owed a job because they're a citizen. if you dont like your job, leave it. If a company doesnt like your work or your salary, they have a right to leave you.

And in my experience, those who make the most, give the most of their time and money. and those who complain the most, give neither.

@Bill, the banks did do wrong when they over leveraged themselves 40-1...I had friends who worked for Bear Sterns and up till the last day, they claimed everything was fine, the books were so cooked you could have burned down the kitchen, the CEO of Wachoiva appearred on CNBC and told shareholders the bank was well capitalized only for two days later to collapse and be taken over by Well Fargo...as far as legislators who corrupted themselves with back room deals with countrywide and heads of committees who had oversight with the GSA's... they should all be in prison next to Bernie...the point about underwriting standards..it is a banks responsibilty to qualify a borrower, the problem was the Com Re Inv Act wanted to expand the criteria and forced banks to make questionable loans.It all comes down to creating an equal society, I would have rather the government built settlements and had given low income folks homes than have given them loans...the housing bubble collapse will reqiure years to recover and the FED's gimmicks will never re ignite the housing market, it is an inventory problem, nothing to do with banks making loans...

Bill...I understand and respect your points and admire your values, they are admirable..cooking the books in the accounting world is illegal, especially when CEO's recieved 10 of millions of dollars in bonuses from financial institutions who bankrupted themselves, this is the legitimate cry from the protestors...Obama as most of my Progressive Liberal friends feel the governments responsibility should not be limited to regulate but to creating a new level of entitlement and have individuals who have the means, pay for it...the problem I have is we are in so much debt, from prior administartions debacles and un-neccessary wars the last thing we need is this Keynesian monetary public social engineering policy...the jobs bill, stimulus and any other socialized engineering program will not work and it is obvious judging by how far they are taking this, the President is grasping to save his job...he desperately is seeking another term. which unless a strong candidate emerges from the republican field, it will be a mud slingling field day...

Occupy Wall Street Protesters Demand Student Loan Relief
It may be hard to pin down exactly what the Occupy Wall Street protesters want, but one of the sources of their frustration seems clear. Many of the demonstrators are drowning in student debt.
Rose Swidden came to Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan from upstate New York, where she is studying agriculture at SUNY Cobleskill. She expects to graduate in May with $35,000 in debt, and doesn't know how she will pay it back.
"We did what we were told to do: go to college, get an education, you'll get a job, you'll get a house, you'll be cool," she said. "And that's what we did. And now here we are done with it—and now what?"
One proposed list of demands for the Occupy Wall Street movement includes "free college tuition" and "immediate across the board forgiveness" of student debt. While neither demand may be very realistic, the student debt problem is very real.
According to FinAid.org, which carries a "student debt clock" on its website, outstanding student debt is on pace to top $1 trillion in a matter of months. Student debt surpassed credit card debt in 2010, and has not looked back. The average 2011 college graduate had $27,204 in student debt, according to the organization.

This was just taken from a website, "free college tuition"??? and how do we pay for professors, teachers and maintenance of universities??? "immediate across the board forgiveness"??? and what about the families who pulled together worked two and three jobs to help their children pay tuition, get through school by attending local community colleges rather than living the college "experience" away at expensive schools studying for degrees in which there are no demands for jobs? The cost of education was a direct result of destructive inflationary measures taken by the Federal Reserve over years by continually manipulating our currency. Again this is nothing more than the fall out of FED and Treasury Policies after 2008, everything was done to save the system, but the system does nothing to save the people. Since 2008 the administration dismantled Sallie Mae all student loans are originated from private institutions averaging a rate of 13% , where is the FED??? they capitalize banks at 0% and make student loans at 13%...take your fight to Washington and the steps of the FED Reserve a private institution. They created this mess.

Bellair, ill bet those 47% who dont pay taxes use more government resources than those who pay the majority of taxes. Sort of blows a hole in the logic of the claim that the "rich dont pay their fair share."

Mario - im not aware of any findings of actual illegal accounting practices by the banks. I could have missed something, but i dont recall it and a quick google search didnt reveal anything to me. However, if that occured, there should have been arrests, indictments and convictions. HUD reduced the standards for mortgages and increased the required percentages of subprime mortgages - despite warnings of disclosure. Yes, banks made money on this where they could. I believe banks were imprudent, but not acting illegally.

Hi, Bill: I think Elizabeth Warren put it very well recently: "You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did."

Now, the owner of that factory also paid for these resources. My point, and the one that Elizabeth Warren makes, is that if you are wealthy, you DO use government resources. If someone breaks into your mansion, you want the police to investigate it. If your mansion catches fire, you want the fire department that's paid for with tax money to come and put it out; you do not have your own fire department. You drive your Ferrari on roads that were paid for by taxpayers. You fly on airplanes run by companies that receive government subsidies, piloted by pilots, many of whom received military training that taxpayers paid for, built by people who went to public schools that taxpayers paid for.

Money all by itself is a government resource. Where does money come from? Government. So it's disingenuous to say that just because you don't send your kids to public school, you don't use any government resources.