(Editor's note: A related commentary, "#OccupyWallStreet Is More Than a Hashtag. It's Revolution in Formation," can be found here.)
"Wall Street got drunk [...] It got drunk and now it's got a hangover." - George W. Bush
As usual, Bush got it wrong. Wall Street soberly and cynically got the rest of us drunk on dreams of home ownership, a robust stock portfolio, and a cozy retirement. This slurry bacchanal was fueled by the housing bubble and, when that exploded in our faces, bailouts saved Wall Street from any hangover, so it's us who will suffer through a torturous, decades-long headache of a ruined economy.
But who are us, exactly? Us are the poor and the middle class, unions, retirement funds, and governments at all levels - federal, state, and city. Us are 99 percent, according to the mostly young protesters at Liberty Park in New York City. (Dubbed "Occupy Wall Street," this encampment in the financial district began on September 17 and, until videos of police brutality hit the Web, had gone largely unreported in the mainstream media.)
Nearly everyone got ripped off, including the cops guarding these protesters. As a protest sign sweetly and innocently demands: "Say Sorry! To All of Us!"
