The Occupy Movement

I think the Occupy movement has a strong point, but not the one they think they do.  They think they are protesting against a free market system that advances the interests of the top 1%.  But their best point is that the free market has been adulterated to the point that the top 1% manipulates the market so that is no longer a free market.  Friends of the powerful get mysterious benefits on both sides of the political spectrum.  Obama supporters getting green energy loan guarantees; Koch brother supplicants getting tax breaks and regulation waivers written into law as earmarks; Berlusconi cronies getting licenses for extra wireless network bandwidth; Russian oligarchy mysteriously getting access to new markets while their toughest competitors are indicted on tax fraud charges; US companies in China mysteriously getting inspected for safety violations that are clearly more violated by Chinese companies that haven’t been inspected, and on and on it goes. 

What the Occupy movement should be protesting for is not a step back from the free market but an acknowledgement that the free market is not really free and we need to admit is has its flaws.  We either need to prevent manipulation or rethink the way the market is implemented.