Analyzing the movement’s deep-seated origins in questions that the country has sought too long to ignore, some of the greatest economic minds and most incisive cultural commentators capture the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon in all its ragged glory, giving readers an on-the-scene feel for the movement as it unfolds while exploring the heady growth of the protests, considering the lasting changes wrought, and recommending reform.
A guide to the occupation, The Occupy Handbook is a source for understanding why 1% of the people in America take almost a quarter of the nation’s income and the long-term effects of a protest movement that even the objects of its attack can find little fault with. 66 contributors include Paul Krugman, Robin Wells, Michael Lewis, Robert Reich, Amy Goodman, Barbara Ehrenreich, Gillian Tett, Scott Turow, Bethany McLean, Brandon Adams, Tyler Cowen and David Graeber as well as prominent labor leaders and young, cutting-edge economists and financial writers whose work is not yet widely known.
David Graeber: Occupy Wall Street’s Anarchist Roots, page 141
Introduction: A Tale of Two Taxes. Janet Byrne
PART I
HOW WE GOT HERE
Advice from the 1 percent: Lever Up, Drop Out. Michael Lewis
The Widening Gyre: Inequality, Polarization, and the Crisis. Paul Krugman and Robin Wells
Take a Stand: Sit In. Philip Dray
The 5 Percent. Michael Hiltzik
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Problem of Silos and Silences in Finance. Gillian Tett
What Good is Wall Street? John Cassidy
Inequality and Intemperate Policy. Raghuram Rajan
Your House as an ATM: The Myth of Homeownership. Bethany McLean
Against Political Capture: Occupiers, Muckrakers, Progressives. Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson
A Nation of Business Junkies. Arjun Appadurai
Causes of Financial Crises Past and Present: The Role of the This-Time-Is-Different Syndrome. Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff
Government as Tough Love: Sitting Down with Rober Shiller. Brandon Adams
PART II
WHERE WE ARE NOW
Occupy Wall Street’s Anarchist Roots. David Graeber
Economic Insecurity and Inequality Breed Political Instability. Nouriel Roubini
A Master Class in Occupation. Chris Hedges
Is Democracy Still in the Streets? James Miller
The Arc of Communism: Lessons for Occupy Wall Street? Rober M. Buckley
Globalization and the Perils of Democracy. Pankaj Mishra
„15M“: The Indignados. Salvador Martí Puig
In the Footsteps of Salvador Allende: Chile and the Occupy Movement. Ariel Dorfman
jBasta YA! Chilean Students Say “Enough”
Nora Lustig, Alejandra Mizala, and G. Eduardo Silva
Occupying the Israeli Street: The Tents Protest Movement and Social Justice in the Holy Land
Neri Zilber
From Tahrir to Zuccotti: Justice but No Peace in Egypt
Chris Stanton
From Resistance to Revolution a la frangaise
Robert Zaretsky
Occupy the Media: Journalism for (and by) the 99 Percent
Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
On the Meaning of Occupation
Michael Greenberg
Unions Build the Middle Class
David Madland, Karla Walter, and Nick Bunker
Occupy Wall Street: The First Quarter and Beyond
George Gresham
Where Is the Demand for Redistribution?
Uyana Kuziemko and Michael I. Norton
U.S. Cultural Decline: The Overlooked Intangibles
Brandon Adams
Civil Society at Ground Zero
Rebecca Solnit
The Making of the American 99 Percent and the Collapse of the Middle Class
Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich
PART III
SOLUTIONS
Occupy K Street. Paul Volcker
Interview with Emmanuel Saez
Kathleen Maclay
Taxing High Earnings
Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez
Commentary
J. Bradford DeLong
Boycott! Michael Lewis Interviews Himself
Michael Lewis
Reforming Western Capitalism
Martin Wolf
How Occupy Wall Street Can Restore the Clout of the 99 Percent
Scott Turow
Psychopaths, Inc.: On Corporate Personhood
Joel Bakan
Occupy Democracy
Robert B. Reich
Taxing the 1 Percent of the 1 Percent
David Cay Johnston
The Short Sell: An Interview with Matt Taibbi
Tom Verlaine
Smart Loans
Eliot Spitzer
Enough with Occupying Wall Street: It’s Time to Start Preoccupying Wall Street
Lawrence Weschler
Reframing the Debate
Tyler Cowen and Veronique de Rugy
Voluntary Financial Transactions Tax
Brandon Adams
Medicare for All
JeffMadrick
Countering the Dangers of Procyclicality 438
Daniel Gross
Principal Reduction: How to Reduce the Mortgage Burden 446
Felix Salmon
How Bankruptcy Contributed to the Mortgage Crisis and How It Could Help the Economy Recover 456
Michelle J. White and Wenli Li
Occupy Global Capitalism
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Debt Jubilee 475
Michael Hudson
Another Way to Resist Wall Street: Copies, Smuggling, and “Globalization from Below”
Gordon Mathews
Coda: “The Last Capitalist on Wall Street”
Brandon Adams
Acknowledgments
Notes
Credits
