Informed Comment _Mayor Bloomberg and Occupy Wall Street by the Numbers_ (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/juancole/ymbn/~3/KXhMz7sLcJA/mayor-bloomberg-and-occupy-wall-st reet-by-the-numbers.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email) Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:26 AM PDT _Brookfield Properties, the owner of Zucotti Park_ (http://www.smh.com.au/world/we-wont-go-faceoff-looms-at-new-york-protest-square-20111014-1lozg.html ) where the Occupy Wall Street protesters have been gathered for weeks, is insisting on “cleaning” its property on Friday. Although New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that the protesters would be allowed to return thereafter, New York City police chief Raymond Kelly has warned that they would not be allowed to bring back sleeping bags or any camping equipment. Bloomberg, one of America’s 400 billionaires, has expressed fears that protests directed at banks would cause the banks to stop lending (out of pique?) and so would hurt jobs growth. Bloomberg is the mayor of New York, but you wonder if he would be if he had not poured tens of millions of his own money into his campaigns. In short, the 1% is mobilizing against the 99% in the park. Percentage of Americans who approve of Occupy Wall Street: 54 Percentage of Americans _who say that the gap between the rich and the poor_ (http://www.politicususa.com/en/americans-support-occupy) has grown too large: 79 Percentage of Americans who say the rich should pay more in taxes: 68 Percentage of Americans _who approve of the Tea Party_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-mo rning-plum/2011/10/13/gIQAULRHhL_blog.html) : 27 Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ranking in _Forbes’ list of the 400 richest_ (http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/54/400list08_Michael-Bloomberg_C610.html) Americans: 8 Bloomberg’s net worth: $20 billion Amount Bloomberg spent of his own fortune on his [first] two mayoral campaigns in New York: $159 million _Percentage of all US economic growth in past decade that went to the top 1% of income earners_ (http://www.juancole.com/2011/10/best-of-the-web-on-widening-wall-street-protests.html) : 65 The _combined net worth of the 400 wealthiest Americans_ (http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore/michael-moore-says-4 00-americans-have-more-wealth-/) , as measured by Forbes magazine in 2007: $1.5 trillion The combined net worth of the poorer 50 percent of American households in 2007: $1.6 trillion Number of times Bloomberg promised that the Occupy Wall Street protesters could _“stay indefinitely”_ (http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/10/10/bloomberg-occupy-wall-street-can-stay-indefinitely/) : 1 _Average salaries in New York’s securities_ (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/bankers-salaries-vs-everyone-elses/) industry in 2010: $361,330 _Average increase in compensation for those in the securities industry over the past 30 years_ (http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/10/chart-day-life-good-wall-street) : 11% Average salary of Wall Street financiers against whom the protesters were protesting, _according to Bloomberg_ (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333038/mayor-bloomberg-wall-street-make-ends-meet/) (saying they “ are struggling to make ends meet”): $45,000-$50,000 Average increase in compensation for private-sector employees outside securities industry during the past 30 years: 1.8% Average price inflation rate during past 30 years: roughly 3% _Decline in average wage_ (http://www.juancole.com/2011/10/best-of-the-web-on-widening-wall-street-protests.html) of the average middle class family in past decade: 7% Decline in the average income of the average poor family in the past ten years: 12% _Number of times Bloomberg maintained that it was unwise to protest banks because it would discourage them from lending money_ (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/mayor_bloomberg_30.php) and so cost jobs: 2 Rate at which the _volume of commercial and industrial bank loans grew_ (http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/08/01/Bank-Lending-Signals-a-Streng thening-Economy.aspx#page1) in the second quarter of 2011: 9.6%
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