{"id":125050,"date":"2011-10-14T03:47:22","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T10:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=125050"},"modified":"2011-10-14T03:47:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-14T10:47:22","slug":"why-occupy-wall-street-would-have-never-happened-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2011\/10\/why-occupy-wall-street-would-have-never-happened-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Occupy Wall Street Would Have Never Happened in China"},"content":{"rendered":"
As\u00a0the Occupy Wall Street\u00a0protests gain momentum, the Global Times spoke with\u00a0Los Angeles-based journalist Nomi Prins and\u00a0Peking University professor Wang Yizhou\u00a0about the movement’s goals, its likely impact and the importance of economic democracy<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Wang presented the Chinese perspective:<\/p>\n Things would be very different if the protests took place in China. The government here would take powerful measures and the financial giants would dare not to refuse change. But the US government is relatively weak.<\/p>\n The Obama administration may call on Congress to pass bills to increase taxes on the rich. But frankly that\u2019s a measure aimed at all wealthy people and corporate giants, rather than especially designed for Wall Street.<\/p>\n Obama may personally have sympathy toward those protesting voices. But as the US president, his job is to maintain existing economic stability. He can urge financial giants to cut salaries and bonuses, but I really don\u2019t see deep changes in the entire policy.<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n The ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement naturally makes the Chinese think about future development and reform in their own financial sector. Some want to strictly constrain the growth of the financial sector.<\/p>\n But we can\u2019t return to the planned economy. Things like subprime mortgages and financial derivatives are indispensable in a complicated modern economy. The lesson we need to draw is to make the correct use of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The People’s Daily ran two editorials on Monday, one from China Economic Net which explained the origins behind the movement<\/strong><\/a>, and another from the Jiefang Daily which\u00a0described the spread of Wall Street outrage<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n There has been a wide appeal from ordinary U.S. people to change the current situation, and even President Barack Obama was forced to admit that the life of U.S. people is worse than it was four years ago.<\/p>\n Pursuing a change and reform has turned into a major demand from the public of the United States. Some demonstrators directly express that they oppose the war, oppose cutting down the social welfares and ask for jobs instead of cutting down employment. They want to press the U.S. government and Congress to change the current situation.<\/p>\n Obviously, it is just the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The protestors are making preparations for passing the winter and also plan to settle down in the Liberty Square of New York. On the one hand, the demonstration is just a voluntary social movement and will hardly evolve into a political party movement that will dominate the political field of the United States.<\/p>\n On the other hand, the demonstration has changed the political ecology of the United States and both the Democratic Party and Republican Party are making use of it to make themselves look good and censure their opponents. Just like the anti-Vietnam War demonstration that occurred half a century ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement will heavily and significantly impact the presidential election of 2012 and the future foreign policy trends of the United States without doubt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n