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OWS plans march on millionaire's homes
If this doesn't have the fingerprint of the unions on it nothing does. And this will likely seal the fate of the democrat party that this weekend has thrown it's support behind the Wall St. squatters.
NEW YORK – Protesters from the Occupy Wall Street movement plan to leave their downtown Manhattan headquarters Tuesday and head uptown as part of a "Millionaires March" visiting the homes of some of New York City's wealthiest residents.
Between 400 and 800 people are expected to take part in the demonstration targeting the homes of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, billionaire businessman David Koch, financier Howard Milstein, hedge fund maven John Paulson and News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, Crain's New York Business reported.
The marchers will hold oversize checks they say demonstrate how much less the wealthy will pay when New York State's two percent tax on millionaires expires at the end of the year.
"Ninety-nine percent of the residents of New York are going to suffer from this tax giveaway so the one percent who already live in absolute luxury can put more money in their pockets," Doug Forand, one of the march organizers, told the New York Daily News. "This is fiscally, economically and morally wrong."
The march is scheduled to begin at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue about 12:30pm then continue to the Upper East Side.
Organized by lobby groups the Working Families Party, New York Communities for Change, Strong Economy for All and United NY, members of the Occupy Wall Street movement are expected to form the bulk of participants.
Now in their fourth week, the Occupy Wall Street protests began in New York's Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan and have since spread across the United States.
Demonstrators are also expected to gather Saturday in the Swiss cities of Zurich, Geneva and Basel for protests modeled after the marches against U.S. authorities and the banking industry. And a dozen protest actions are planned throughout the day in Austria -- including in Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Graz and Innsbruck.
On Monday, as temperatures in New York pushed past 80 degrees, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would allow the protesters to remain in Zuccotti Park indefinitely if they abide by the law.
He also speculated that changing weather might limit the protest's duration, The Wall Street Journal reported.
But the protesters themselves said they have no plans to leave once colder conditions set in.
"We might have fewer people stopping by in the winter months but we'll plan, mobilize, organize, maybe get some permits during the winter," said Ed Needham, part of Occupy Wall Street's press team.
Protesters insisted that they are marshaling donations to prepare for colder conditions. Organizers have already designated a team to handle donations of clothing and is encouraging supporters to send sleeping bags, blankets, coats, hand-warmers, gloves and hats.
A slew of celebrities joined the protests Monday afternoon, with hip-hop moguls Russell Simmons and Kanye West taking in the sights and sounds of Zuccotti Park.
"I just walked @kanyewest thru the#occupywallstreet," Simmons wrote on his Twitter account Monday. "I love how sweet and tolerant he was to the crowd."
Earlier Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton broadcast his nationally syndicated radio show from Zuccotti Park. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo and "Gossip Girl" star Penn Badgley have also been spotted at the protests.
Large labor unions have also thrown their support and resources behind the protests and the Democratic Party Monday moved a step closer to embracing the movement as its own with the top campaign arm for House Democrats sending a petition urging people to "stand with" the protesters, FOXNews.com reported.
In an email Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) director Robby Mook appealed for signatures to an online petition in support of those who want "to let billionaires, big oil and big bankers know that we're not going to let the richest one percent force draconian economic policies and massive cuts to crucial programs on Main Street Americans."
The DCCC is trying to gather 100,000 names on the petition to "send a message straight to Eric Cantor, Speaker [John] Boehner, and the rest of reckless Republican leadership in Congress."
The appeal comes after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other Republicans sharply criticized the protesters Friday. At a Values Voter Summit in Washington, Cantor said he was "increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country."
He described them as "the pitting of Americans against Americans," and scolded those who would condone them.
"Getting America back to work means fueling a culture of entrepreneurialism, a culture of competitiveness, a culture of inspiration and optimism," Cantor said.
But House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Cantor was being selective in his criticism of popular movements.
"I didn't hear him say anything when the Tea Party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol, and he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them," she told ABC's "This Week."
In Washington, protesters were given a reprieve Monday with police granting an extension to their permit, allowing them to stay camped in downtown Freedom Plaza for another four months, The Washington Post reported.
The Stop the Machine group -- which has been voicing opinions on the economy like those in Occupy Wall Street -- had thought it would be told to move on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, a gathering of protesters from a variety of community groups congregated late Monday afternoon outside the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, where more than 2,100 people in the mortgage-banking field were attending their industry's annual convention this week, MarketWatch reported.
Protesters demanded relief for struggling homeowners, including loan-principal reduction for those underwater on their mortgages, said Tracy Van Slyke, co-director of New Bottom Line, a campaign that challenges big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities. The group also thinks banks are not paying their fair share of taxes and wants them to invest more in small businesses, she said.
One estimate put the crowd at 250 people, many of them chanting, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Wall Street bankers got to go." Some hoisted signs, including one that read, "They get rich. We get foreclosed."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/11...#ixzz1aT8wwKWG
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Originally Posted by webrockk
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