In the Business section of today's (August 12) paper edition of the Houston Chronicle, the Chronicle's business columnist Loren Steffy writes an article very supportive of the Occupy movement—and it's on page 1 of the Business section at the top of the page, so should grab a few eyes of readers of this paper. Since the online version of his interesting article is not yet available, I'll summarize his article below the fold with the customary three samples (and post a web link to the entire article later when it's finally online). Loren Steffy's article is titled "Behind the protests lie some very mainstream concerns".
Loren Steffy opens his article with:
As the Occupy Houston protest began to assemble in front of City Hall last week I spotted Christopher Keeble from the other side of the plaza. I'll admit, I don't have much patience for these sorts of protests, but something about Keeble caught my attention. Maybe it was his tie. Maybe it was the sign he held aloft professing his love for capitalism. "Capitalism isn't the problem," he told me after I approached him. "Capitalism is being destroyed from within."
A photo of Christopher Keeble and his sign is available at this Houston Chronicle web site.
Loren Steffy's encounter with Christopher Keeble is described at length in the article. Here are some tidbits:
Keeble said he's angry that capitalism has been hijacked by corporate interests that are undermining the system they purport to uphold. "The playing field is not level anymore," he said. "We need to stand up against a system that has been corrupted." ...
It reflects a larger, broader unrest, one in which Americans question why the recovery has benefited a few — the wealthiest 1 percent — while ignoring so many others who have worked so hard yet have so little to show for it. ...
The system is broken, and no one in Washington has shown much interest in fixing it. They retread the same tired arguments that either caused the problem or failed to solve it. We don't need to end capitalism, we need to root out the influences that have corrupted it. If the government won't hold the architects of the financial crisis to account, then "this needs to be addressed in the streets," Keeble said. We have to save capitalism from the crony capitalists, as he calls them.
And finally the article ends with Steffy's reasonable conclusion:
That doesn't sound like a radical manifesto. It sounds like a good place to start.
There's a lot more in the article. It certainly seems that Loren Steffy, a pro-business columnist, gets it, that he certainly grasps the import of the various Occupy protests, and expresses this import in a way his pro-business readers will understand and perhaps some of them maybe even accept and rally around.
If you have access to the paper version of the Houston Chronicle, give it a read. I'll post the online link to it when it becomes available. I'm just pleased that someone like Loren Steffy understands the meaning of the Occupy protests, and I hope that many more of the business community will also understand and support those of us in the 99%. They should realize if you help us, you will also help yourself.
Update: As promised, here is the link to the original article by Loren Steffy published in the Houston Chronicle.