About four weeks ago, groups of disgruntled Americans began gathering in a park in New York City to vent their reservations against corporations and those at their helms; for profiteering at the cost of US tax payers. Initial diatribes mostly drew attention to handsome salaries and bonuses bestowed to senior management of many corporations that were pulled from the edge of financial ruin, by the government just a few months back.
Disdain against Wall Street giants is understandable considering the fact that the United States has piled on hundreds of billions of dollars in sovereign debt to bail out these corporations, while the corporations have instituted a few if there is any significant change in their business practices.
So, while the giant corporations have managed to bandage their bleeding financial statements, the average Americans remain battered, bruised and unattended with US unemployment remaining over nine percent for the third consecutive year and at least two million families having lost their homes in the housing finance crash.
Since then, the "Occupy Wall Street" movement has gathered momentum in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Miami and scores of other cities and towns across the US. Moreover, outpourings of support for the movement are now becoming increasingly common in places as far away from the land of opportunity as Manila, Philippines and Tokyo, Japan.
Moreover, polls conducted by various media organisations including Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal show that majority of Americans support the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.
Critics of the movement (and there are plenty) have argued that there is no clear agenda or list of demands that could form cohesion among the ranks of protestors whose demands are being painted to be as diverse as the walks of life they hail from.
But contrary to this view, the motivation behind this movement is, in effect, unequivocally clear and actionable. Unequivocal, because all protestors are calling for an overhaul of the US electoral system which leans in favour of big businesses due to their significant campaign contributions and lobbying among the corridors of power.
And, actionable, because scores of policy experts and intellectuals have presented a plethora of alternatives that can be used to spur the growth of the US economy while addressing the root causes of the inequitable distribution of wealth in the society.
On Friday, a group of professors from Yale led by that institutions President, Richard Levin, spoke at a gathering in New Haven, Connecticut. Levin urged the government to introduce new taxes on wealth, reform mortgage finance regulations to facilitate families at risk of losing their homes and encouraging public-private partnerships for job creation and development of infrastructure.
Professors from Ivy League universities have made presentations and speeches at various venues throughout the United States since last week. More than 350 professors, currently serving on the faculties of Barnard and Columbia, have also signed a petition in support of the movement.
Each of these signatories has echoed the same sentiment in its speech and writing, which is that the influence of corporations in government policy must be reigned in and the use of government funding should be channelised towards development of a framework that facilitates the growth of responsible private enterprise to create jobs and bolster equitable distribution of resources.
Although, there is not one concrete set of demands put forth by the public taking to the streets in the United States and elsewhere, it is undeniable that their manifesto centres on the overhaul of a system which rewards corporate greed and government complacency. The onus of developing the exact response to create this change lies squarely on the shoulders of policymakers; not the public.