There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear.
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
-Buffalo Springfield
The media attention about Occupy Wall Street is on how some cities are turning to violence and police actions to scare off the movement. Wounded Marine and Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen was in critical condition after a police raid on Occupy Oakland.
The Occupy Wall Street protesters can take heart in knowing that police and military action is usually the last desperate act of power brokers trying to hold on to control.
If you can speak to the ghost of Muammar Gaddafi, he can tell you how firing on his own people worked out for him.
The days of clamping down free speech with violence are over. The average citizen, using social media, has too many ways to communicate, organize and stand up to oppression.
I think it will be difficult for the Occupy movement to maintain its outdoor protests through the cold winter months but I expect the seeds of their protest to have an impact for years.
Already, they have had an immediate victory.
Like many, I was outraged a few weeks ago when Bank of America tried to impose a five dollar a month fee for using debit cards. Although I wrote about it extensively, the ears of America were more attune thanks to Occupy Wall Street. It was another example of Wall Street and Main Street not connecting.
In the past few days, most of Bank of America's competitors have decided not to impose a debit card fee and even Bank of America itself is looking to modify (or hopefully eliminate) the charge.
Chalk this up as an Occupy Wall Street victory. Big banks have been sticking it to us for years, even after the Wall Street bailouts in 2008. This was one time where consumer outrage made a difference.
It may not be the last time.
I've been on a book tour promoting my new book, Wealth Without Wall Street, A Main Street Guide to Making Money.
The audience for my book has been those who are looking to implement ideas in a post Occupy Wall Street era.
Although the goal of taking money away from Wall Street is the same as people who are protesting, most of my readers are the "silent majority". They approve of the protest against Wall Street, even though they are not marching or gathering.
The Move Your Money movement has taken off since Occupy Wall Street started. People are taking away the power of Wall Street and giving more power to Main Street.
My book pushes the idea of individual action over collective action but Occupy Wall Street has a little of both. The Occupy Wall Street movement is giving voice to a wider group who are angry at what Wall Street has done to America.
I am sure the Occupy Wall Street supporters have to have days of discouragement, especially on days when they are being gassed, arrested and watching their colleagues be carted off to hospitals.
But as the debit card victory has shown, they are making a difference. They are voicing the anger of millions and that voice is having an impact on Wall Street.
And on Main Street.
Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the bestselling author of the book Wealth Without Wall Street: McNay, who lives in Richmond Kentucky, an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post Contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com
He is the Chairman of the Board for the McNay Settlement Group (www.mcnay.com) which provides structured settlement consulting for injury victims, lottery winners, and the families of special needs children.
McNay founded Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC, which assists attorneys in as conservators and setting up guardianship's. It is nationally recognized as an administrator of Qualified Settlement (468b) funds.