If there is one thing business respects it is success. By the simple act of not dissolving into an anarchic spindrift, then defying New York Mayor Bloomberg and his now chastened police department, the OWS protesters have generated a grudging, well not admiration exactly, but appreciation. Sort of like when another banker screws you on a trade. Thieves honor, let's call it.
If the business of business is selling, then the world's ultimate salemen know it when they see it. After all, these are the guys who sold trillions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities based on commitments worth less than the rags that made the paper they were printed on, then bullied their way past a world full of angry governments to emerge not just without jail terms but with a handsome bailout that carried them for another two years. Now that is salesmanship - whether you like it or not.
So they get that this has become the biggest media story of the year. That it has metastasized globally without organization or, heaven forefend, a budget. And that it has changed the political dynamic in a Presidential election year once dominated only by the themes they funded.
So there is, perhaps, in the deepest recesses of those well-compensated and copiously advised minds a realization that their take has become unsustainable and unsupportable. That the game, as it has been played for the past decade, may be up. That they may have hoovered every spare cent out of a gasping system. And that maybe they had better start making nice before someone with real power and a real agenda starts to train his or her sights on them for political gain.
Forbes and the rest of the conservative media will continue to fulminate and loudly rail against this movement, but in the corporate board rooms where the serious decisions go down, chins are being stroked and calculations are being made. JL
Kenneth Rapoza comments in Forbes magazine:
Is the Occupy Wall Street movement gaining some respect from people who actually make their living in the securities and derivatives markets?
The left wing lunatic ‘fringe of the fringe’is gaining respect from the very source of the movement’s disdain: Wall Street itself.
Barry Ritholtz writes on his Big Picture blog, “I am digging this new movement.” He connected his readers to Chicago designer Jeff Couterier’s latest project, a banner ad for people to download to their websites reading I Support the Occupy Movement.
The first big investor on the scene wasn’t George Soros and the buckets of money he is giving the movement from his black helicopter and onboard printing press; it was the CEO of one of the nation’s largest private asset managers, PIMCO. Writing in an op-ed on the Huffington Post on Oct. 10, Mohammed El-Erian said “To those wondering whether to pay attention to the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests, the answer is yes. This is more than just a nascent movement that will grow in the weeks and months ahead. It is part of a worldwide drive for greater social justice.”
Greater social justice? Wall Street? Something is definitely happening here. Whether it fizzles out or gets busted up through divide and conquer strategies remains to be seen, but the movement, which got its start in the editorial offices of Adbusters, a non-influential magazine based in Vancouver, continues to spread around the world.
Occupy Wall Street is now Occupy Everywhere.
El Erian writes, “Some observers seem to be repeating a mistake that many made in Egypt, Israel and Tunisia — that of falling hostage to an outmoded way of thinking about seemingly-leaderless grass movements. Such observers are quick to dismiss OWS because it is fragmented and lacks a detailed list of demands. They argue that it is long on criticisms of the past and short on solutions for the future. They note that it is not structured to navigate the current political setup. Accordingly, they conclude that the impact will be transitory and inconsequential.
While these reactions are understandable, this conclusion about OWS is likely to be proven wrong as it ignores a powerful reality: A peaceful drive for greater social justice can unify people from diverse cultural backgrounds, political affiliations, religions, and social classes…Through constructive collaboration, the movement’s energy and intensity can – and hopefully will — be combined with other influences to formulate forward-looking solutions for an America that must desperately regain its economic vigor, provide more jobs, and deliver better on its traditional commitment to social fairness and equal opportunities.”
El Erian might just as well see the Occupy Wall Street movement as plaintiffs in a national case against banks. PIMCO has its own grievances with the banking establishment as it is. The investment company is currently in a legal battle with another major fund company, BlackRock, against Bank of America over its losses in the 2008 mortgage backed security blowout.
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