We're Going to Cover That In Phase 2

I was surprised to get an email from MoveOn.org at around 2:30 AM yesterday which read,

According to multiple reports, police are raiding Occupy Wall Street right now. Occupiers have asked anyone who can go down there and offer support to do so. Please do if you’re able.

It seems that the best home grown NYC tourist attraction since The Naked Cowboy set up shop in Times Square is gone, at least for now. While the protesters are regrouping and figuring out where they go from here (already there was talk that the movement would move to college campuses, because they are friendlier to protest and due to weather reasons), I am sure however that this isn’t the end of the 99 Percent Movement or the fight for an economy that works for everyone.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka summed it up pretty well:

But the 99% is undaunted. Occupy Wall Street’s message already has created a new day. This movement has created a seismic shift in our national debate—from austerity and cuts to jobs, inequality and our broken economic system.

Here are some stats for your Turkey Day table when you wind up arguing with your Tea Party loving family member about the validity of the movement:

• The top 1 percent of Americans still own 40 percent of our country’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent.
• The richest 1 percent earned one out of every four dollars in 2007. Thirty years earlier, the richest only made one out of every 11 dollars.
• One in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than 10 million middle-income Americans.
• Fourteen million Americans are unemployed.
• Corporations are sitting on $2 trillion in cash – more cash than at any time in nearly a half century – instead of hiring more employees.

Considering it’s the state motto of New York, as Stan Lee would say, excelsior!
Stats via Think Progress