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Are you ready to rumble?

The American people may have reached a boiling point with their anger towards Wall Street. As I write this, hundreds of protesters have gathered outside Goldman Sachs headquarters in Chicago. It's part of a three-day rally aptly titled "The Showdown in Chicago."

The rally coincides with the American Bankers Association annual meeting. These pictures were taken moments ago outside Goldman Sachs headquarters:

The protest organizers include unions, activists and consumer groups. They have a central website for photos, information and tweets: showdowninchicago.org. They're literally making this out to be a boxing match with the ABA:

Here's some footage from protesters crashing an ABA party last night:

Rob Johnson of the Roosevelt Institute is among the protesters. He writes on Huffington Post:

The question most asked here is "how long can this go on? Bailouts for the ones who created the mess, bankers acting like they earned it, foreclosures and bankruptcies and unemployment rising, and the Congressional Committees pretending to reform the financial regulatory system while they load up on money from the financial lobbyists.

My answer is that no one knows how long. We know that it will change. We will not see a nation that lives on 30 percent credit card rates. We will not see Wall Street wages forever at a 40 percent premium to wages throughout the economy adjusted for skill and experience. We will not pretend that only financial repackagers work hard and are deserving.

The question is when and how, not if, it will change.

Do you agree? Or are people just going to wind up like this guy, beating the crap out of stuff in their garage? (FYI - serious profanity)

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3than's picture
3than - Oct 26, 2009

I wonder how FauxNews will cover these protests? The protests seem at least as well organized as the "grass roots" tea parties. But my guess is it won't get much air time especially during the "entertainment" talk show hours.

Ned D.'s picture
Ned D. - Oct 27, 2009

As of this morning, virtually no one is covering this. Not even NPR's regular news.

gb gb's picture
gb gb - Oct 26, 2009

This is the consequence bailing out banks. They should have let banks fail and also people who participated in the real estate bubble take their losses and foreclose. Instead we have this new socialism. Now idiots on the other side spectrum want their share of money. In this whole saga, people who have been prudent are going to pay for these idiots.

Ned D.'s picture
Ned D. - Oct 27, 2009

Yes, socialism but it's corporate socialism where the government operates for the welfare and benefit of large corporations.

If those banks had been allowed to fail, that would have opened up the market to allow new players with innovative solutions. By bailing out the "TBTF" we've mostly stymied good solutions that might have arisen.

Ned D.'s picture
Ned D. - Oct 26, 2009

Wow, this is weird after seeing Michael Moore's latest movie. He staged "sample protests" outside of banks and filmed them for "Capitalism..."

I wonder if he's there with cameras?

Scott Jagow's picture
Scott Jagow - Oct 26, 2009

Don't know, Ned, but he's listed as one of the "supporters" of the showdown.

joey's picture
joey - Oct 26, 2009

Misplace anger, IMO

Ned D.'s picture
Ned D. - Oct 26, 2009

What would you suggest that they do to rectify the situation? Their elected officials are apparently not doing very much.

Meghan's picture
Meghan - Oct 26, 2009

If your elected officials are not doing 'very much', vote in new officials. Constituents moving en mass to do exactly that is what gets things done.

Ned D.'s picture
Ned D. - Oct 26, 2009

I've been reading some additional news articles on this and it looks like the top agenda for this meeting is to work on a strategy on how to stop re-regulation.

Seems like the protesters might actually be in the right place... ?? No?

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