Wall Street protest to impact US political, economic decisions

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

The three-week Occupy Wall Street movement has developed into a protest of up to 10,000 demonstrators after spreading to scores of cities across the United States. The demonstrators, mainly made up of the middle and lower classes and the unemployed, are seeking to maximize the scale of the protests in order to increase their influence.

However, it is unlikely that the movement will be utilized by political forces because it represents diverging interests. Nevertheless, it will surely have a certain impact on the presidential election in 2012 and even affect U.S. political and economic decisions as well as its short-term policies.

Public upset by economy, unemployment

Analysts generally believe that the root cause behind the outbreak of the Occupy Wall Street movement lies in the continued economic downturn and high unemployment rate in the United States. The three-year-old Obama administration is being criticized by more and more political factions for its weak governance capacity and ineffective economic stimulus measures.

After receiving a bailout paid for by U.S. taxpayers, the financial industry did not look after the interests of the public but rather spent the money frivolously while raising fees on ordinary people. This sparked public discontent and finally triggered the Occupy Wall Street movement.

The protesters, who seek to regain their influence over the U.S. political and economic decision-making, have accused big companies, especially financial giants, of using their money to buy political power.

They are calling on the U.S. government to allocate more resources to improving people's lives. In addition, they have expressed opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and other foreign countries and called for more efforts to ensure fairness, social justice, environmental protection and human rights.

Tit-for-tat attitude between Democrats, Republicans

Democrats and Republicans take sharply opposing attitudes toward the rapidly spreading protest movement. The White House, the representative of the moderates of the Democratic Party, has expressed understanding of the protests. U.S. President Barack Obama told the press that he understood the anger of the protesters.