Occupy Wall Street Protesters Target JPMorgan Chase Skyscraper

NEW YORK (Michelle Nichols) - The Occupy Wall Street movement protesting U.S. economic inequality will target a JPMorgan Chase skyscraper on Wednesday, as the number of rallies on U.S. college campuses planned for Thursday grew to at least 90 schools.

Protesters, who say the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes, are directing their anger and frustration at JPMorgan Chase'shigh-profile chief executive Jamie Dimon.

They are demanding that New York state extend a so-called millionaires tax due to expire at the end of the year, saying that more than $400,000 back in Dimon's pocket if the tax is allowed to end.

Organizers said they want to tell Dimon that New York needs the extra revenue for ``our schools, our subways, our human services, and for new public investments to create jobs and build a more prosperous future for all of us.''

Average chief executive pay in the United States is 142 times that of lower-ranked employees, according to Thomson Reuters ASSET4 data. British bosses pull in 69 times more than their workers while egalitarian Sweden has an average gap of only 34 times.

Organizers said the number of colleges set to rally in solidarity on Thursday grew by half overnight to at least 90, as the movement builds ahead of global protests planned for Saturday.

UNIONISTS SUPPORT RALLIES

Office cleaners will also protest in New York's Wall Street financial district on Wednesday afternoon in a march for good jobs organized by the Service Employees International Union.

Since Sept. 17 protesters have camped out in a park in Lower Manhattan near Wall Street, rallying against billions of dollars in bailouts banks received during the financial crisis, which pushed the U.S. economy into recession.

Despite the taxpayer-funded bailouts, banks recovered quickly to earn huge profits while average Americans suffer high unemployment and job insecurity with little help.

About 500 protesters took to Manhattan's upscale Upper East Side neighborhood on Tuesday, marching past the homes of Dimon, hedge fund manager John Paulson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and David Koch, co-founder of energy firm Koch Industries.

While Tuesday's march was peaceful, hundreds of people have been arrested in previous rallies in New York, and police have used pepper spray on protesters. Demonstrators were arrests in Washington, Boston and Chicago on Tuesday at protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

According to Occupy Together, which has become an online hub for protest activity, the Occupy Wall Street movement has sparked rallies in more than 1,300 cities throughout the United States and around the world. (Editing by Philip Barbara)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[remembertovote]

12:55 PM on 10/14/2011

Suggestions for constructive campaigns to launch by the OWS folks:
1. "Paper's Safer" Campaign. Go back to paper ballots like Germany does. Can't rob the 99% of their votes that way. Voting machines are unsafe and can be easily hacked.
2. "Reverse the Vote" Campaign. Vote only for candidates that don't spend a fortune to campaign. We don't need anyones permission to simply stop voting for the wealthy. Europe does not use advertising in elections, so huge sell outs to moneyed interests are less common.
3. Vote for candidates that are NOT wealthy. A working class or middle class candidate?! We might actually get representation that way!

[gwilder]

11:03 AM on 10/13/2011

Go America!! The poor and the working people built this country, brick by brick, and the rich want to take it away. We are the 99ers, they are 1%. There is no question about who's going to win this.

[Roy l Payne]

11:01 AM on 10/13/2011

Join the "bank-transfer-day" and move your money to a credit union or community bank by Nov 5.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/113658/bank-transfer-day-mainstreet?mod=bb-budgeting

Once the puppet masters of our congress start getting the message, things will start to change.

[OldTulsan]

10:51 AM on 10/13/2011

Be nice to JP Morgan Chase. They could be handling your food stamp debit cards.

From 2009:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7452561&page=2
Food Stamps Create Jobs... in India - ABC News

"...JP Morgan Chase Sends Calls to India

JP Morgan is the only one today still operating public-assistance call centers overseas. The company refused to say which states had calls routed to India and which ones had calls stay domestically. That decision, the company said, was often left up to the individual states.

ABC News canvassed the country, asking states about their call centers. Often state officials overseeing the programs had no idea, despite past controversies, where their calls were going.

JP Morgan provides food stamp debit cards in 26 states and the District of Columbia. It also provides child support debit cards in 15 states and unemployment insurance cards in seven states...."

[BrokeInSoCal]

03:32 AM on 10/13/2011

The same bank that made a $4.6 million donation to the NYPD? Hope the protestors wear goggles to thwart off the use of pepper spray.

[layla1]

01:52 AM on 10/13/2011

Sad to see the political remarks on this sight while the bankers at JPMORGAN are laughing all the way to the bank.. oh wait a minute.... they are the bank that just keeps on stealing.....JPMorgan stole the lives of soldiers in the Civil War... stole the energy policy that would have freed us from our current crisis and is now stealing the United States blind with their three card monty song and dance on the foreclosure crisis and credit card fees. Occupy Wall Street has picked the leader of the pick pocket banksters in Jamie Dimon and should set up shop outside his home. This is not a right or left argument it is an argument for the future of our country.

[John michael Adams]

10:01 PM on 10/12/2011

"egalitarian sweden" say what?
you mean Socialist!

[freedomny]

07:38 PM on 10/12/2011

Go on youtube and look at the 1-2-3 drill that Chase personal bankers have posted....they are hilarious.

[njgal4obama]

10:20 PM on 10/12/2011

They ARE hilarious!

[Raccoon1]

07:38 PM on 10/12/2011

These are the people who were rescued by the bailout. Now that the CITIZENS need help, no money can be found.

[John michael Adams]

10:12 PM on 10/12/2011

perhaps they should launch a new slogan like "We are the 99 Percent. We are the American People. We are Too Big To Fail"

[Raccoon1]

12:14 PM on 10/13/2011

I"ve seen something similar on a sign: "We are the People, We are too big to fail." or words to that effect.

[Raccoon1]

07:33 PM on 10/12/2011

1. Regulate Wall Street.
2. Overhaul the tax system.
3. Get the money out of our electoral process and out of Washington, D.C.

[John michael Adams]

10:02 PM on 10/12/2011

and china is still laughing at you. Get the manufacturing back.

[Raccoon1]

12:01 PM on 10/13/2011

......covered under get the money out of our electoral process. Legislators with the _good_of_America_ at heart will deal with China.

[cornel]

06:06 PM on 10/12/2011

Can't wait until the 15th and join the Berkeley protests, they always are so much fun ! Feeling young again just like in 64 : )

[coolgarfield]

04:21 PM on 10/12/2011

The greed of Corporate America needs to come to a screeching halt. So many out of work, the job situation is only getting worse. Big deal, so Toyrs R Us is hiring 40,000 new seasonal employees. this is temporary and jobs with lowest pay and no benefits. Chase, under the leadership of CEO Jamie Dimon, is one of the worst offendors of corporate greed. I heard a story about Dimon having a barbecue at his lavish estate. He caught his daughter throwing out a near empty ketchup bottle and blasted her. Keep in mind, the bottle was more than 3/4 empty. He berated her "Don't ever throw out someting in this house unless its completely empty!" How incredibly miserly of Dimon. I think he operates his business under the same philiosophy. He uses his employs until he squeezes every drop of work out of them, then he dumps them. Point is, corporate greed is ruining America Families are literally being decimated based on the notion of profit margin and entitlement. Dimon, like many other CEOs, is earning 142 times more than the average salaried employee! This is beyond ridiculous. Does attracting "suitable candidates" mean paying them the salary of a third world countries GDP? Also, with dividends dropping lower and lower, stock holders are now feeling the pinch of corporate excess. Occupy Wall Street movement is going to make these glutons take heed. The time for sweeping changes in American economy will happen!

[TheRevV]

04:18 PM on 10/12/2011

Great news! CHASE deserves this. Years ago, CHASE tried several dirty tricks to cheat us and I got out. Now they must be held accountable.

[Disdain]

04:08 PM on 10/12/2011

Why not protest banks who still owe TARP money. Chase repaid theirs with interest and only took the money at the insistence of the government. In fact, the government made $795 millions from the loan.

[Raccoon1]

07:36 PM on 10/12/2011

That's a start.

[Artanis71]

02:56 PM on 10/13/2011

Wow, you really bought that talking point? Not including the back door loans to AIG, the TARP money was loaned out at nearly 0%. If you get $1 trillion at .25-.5% interest for a year you would make a ton of money. Even if you only turn around and put that money into government bonds you would make 3-4%, that is a great deal. Pay back almost a billion extra in interest and make 10's of billions.

No banks were forced to take the money and many of them paid it back early to avoid the restriction capping the massive bonuses to executives.

[Disdain]

03:03 PM on 10/13/2011

I don't follow. Are the bank at fault for taking the money freely offered to them or the government for giving it?

[drhirise]

03:35 PM on 10/12/2011

These banks are willing to spend millions to save less on their taxes - this is sociopathic greed.