In a surest sign that Occupy Wall Street is hitting its mark, today's editorial in the Wall Street Journal compains that the protestors are directing their anger in the wrong direction and should be complaining about Washington instead of Wall Street.
At least that's an improvement over calling one of their toadies at the New York Times to ask if they need to personally beef up their private security detail.
The Journal whines that the protestors are directing their anger at the wrong people and that Jamie Dimon and John Paulson did not personally cause the financial crisis.
The question is, outrage at whom? On Wednesday, Occupy Wall Street marched on J.P. Morgan Chase's headquarters, after having protested outside CEO Jamie Dimon's home the previous day. That's odd, seeing that J.P. Morgan didn't take on excessive mortgage risk and didn't need (although it was forced to take) TARP money. The demonstrators also picketed the home of hedge fund mogul John Paulson, who made much of his recent fortune betting against the housing bubble, not helping to inflate it.
And that it's not the one-percenters' fault, it's all Obama's fault because he is such a meanie to job creators:
Still, if anyone in the Occupy Wall Street movement wants an intellectually honest explanation for why they can't find a job, they might start by considering what happens to an economy when the White House decides to make pinatas out of the financial-services industry (roughly 6%, or $828 billion, of U.S. GDP), the energy industry (about 7.5% of GDP, or $1 trillion), and millionaires and billionaires (who paid 20.4% of all federal income taxes in 2009). And don't forget the Administration's rhetorical volleys against individual companies like Anthem Blue Cross, AIG and Bank of America, or against Chrysler's bondholders, or various other alleged malefactors of wealth.
And even the 99%'ers on Wall Street, the 'little people' doing routine jobs, will be affected by the economy, so therefore the one percenters should not be held accountable.
As for Wall Street itself, on Tuesday New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a report predicting that the financial industry will likely lose 10,000 jobs by the end of next year. That's on top of the 4,100 jobs lost since April, and the 22,000 since the beginning of 2008. Overall New York-area employment in finance and insurance has declined by 8.9% since late 2006. Even Goldman Sachs is planning layoffs.
Despite the fact that the one percent will still receive obscene bonuses unrelated to performance.
If a one-percenter could have tried to demonstrate his cluelessness any more spectacularly than this, I don't know how. Interestingly, Hermain Cain is spouting these exact words in his campaign speeches, insisting that Wall Street and 'Washington' are not one and the same.