Ring Wall Street's Bell:
Although those who are focused on "Wall Street" as the cause of the economic unfairness in the United States have garnered a great deal of attention by camping out in parks and marching through cities in protest, their efforts have done little to move things towards the economic fairness they seek. The truth is that beyond getting on TV quite a bit and helping to sell more newspapers, whatever the protestors are referring to as "Wall Street" has been, and will continue to be, entirely unmoved; not even impressed; nothing.
"Wall Street," however you want to define it, is all about money.
There is no money involved in protesting the way the protesters in "Occupy Wall Street" have been doing it. They allude to the "Economic Unfairness" in our country by referring to their being the "99%" and to the mega rich people and corporations as being the "1%." But, it’s a waste of time. Well, not entirely a waste of time. "Occupy Wall Street" did get almost everyone’s attention and have kept it for quite a while. Everyone, except for “Wall Street,” that is. "Occupy Wall Street" can be far more effective now that it has achieved a following if it can reign in the power of the people who might be rooting for it and who are willing to do something, and really not very much, to help. "Occupy Wall Street" may still be able to use the enthusiasm in those who agree with the movement but who are not going to do any “occupying” of their own to make “Wall Street” listen to them too and all without getting in the face of even one policeman.
Going forward, "Occupy Wall Street" should consider starting each day that the Stock Market is open for business in a similar way that Wall Street does at the New York Stock Exchange.
"Occupy Wall Street" ought to ring a bell.
Then, in the way that the Stock Exchange focuses on one particular company and its recent good news or accomplishments, they should hold a lottery picking one company’s name from a fish bowl containing names of stock issuing companies in a certain market segment, such as oil producers, food producers, entertainment, automobiles, department stores, restaurant chains, and the like.
The winning company drawn at random from that fish bowl by a person significant to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement would then be described in some detail. Using that company’s annual report and other information available to any of its investors as public knowledge, the history and attributes of the winning company would be read out loud for all to hear and know. Then, whatever is considered to be onerous about that company, such as outrageously high salaries paid to its leadership, or an unbelievably low amount of tax dollars paid by the company because of its Congressional lobbyists and high-priced legal-strategists, or how it outsourced 1,600 jobs from here to India, should be reported.
Then, an announcement should be made that, since the winning company has not made any effort to correct the wrongness of its ways, even in light of the recent efforts of "Occupy Wall Street" to make such companies aware that their actions are not only insensitive but down right mean spirited, and that, in order to better impress upon that company and all who are connected with it, including those or who invest in it by owning that company’s stock, all "Occupy Wall Street" participants, supports and sympathizers are requested to boycott that winning company’s products and services of any kind until such time as that company and its leadership makes significant efforts to rectify its ways.
If the president of that company makes sixty million dollars, lets have that salary reduced to, say, two million and let the other fifty-eight million dollars be used to provide jobs and job training to a goodly number of people who need just that kind of help.
On each subsequent business day, another company from another segment of the Wall Street world of investor owned companies gets pulled from the fishbowl and the same procedure gets followed.
Immediately upon having its name pulled from the bowl, the stock of that company will plummet. When sales of its products and services start to fall off, the stock will drop further and further in price. There will be people in the “99%” who may feel the pinch caused by a targeted boycott such as those who may offer those products in their stores, or those who may drive delivery trucks with those products on board. But, if "Occupy Wall Street" wants to really get the attention of Wall Street, money must be in its message.
The success of the boycotts will probably cause the winning companies; i.e. those that become the focus of the boycotts, to make certain corrections in their marketing and pricing strategies. As inventories swell, pricing will probably be adjusted downward. Advertising and public relations initiatives will be focused on attracting new customers to replace ones who joined the boycott and those who can not refuse a bargain; even in the face of a boycott. To the extent that their corrections are successful, there will be similar maneuvers by their competitors in the form of reduced prices, loyalty discounts, introductory deals and advertising and public relations efforts of their own.
Depending on the financial strengths of the “winners” of the "Occupy Wall Street" lotteries, there may or may not be layoffs of workers idled by the success of the boycotts. Such moves on the part of the corporate management of those companies would be unfortunate but very predictable results. It will be done to try to make it look like the "Occupy Wall Street" pressure brought about the pain being felt by those being laid off. To counteract that maneuver, it will be the responsibility of the "Occupy Wall Street" public relations people to keep the focus of the media and of the public on the “gazillions” of dollars being paid to the corporate leadership while firing line workers. So, a bunch of “99%ers” get victimized by a bunch of “1%ers” looking to make things look like what they want it to look like and not like what it really is.
There is more that the "Occupy Wall Street" movement needs to do. But, ringing a bell to get the attention of Wall Street would be a good beginning.
Drew Kopf
Independent Write-in Candidate for President of the United States
November 20, 2011
www.drewkopf.com
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