This article describes the Occupy Wall Street protesters differently than its critics on the right. It argues that they are opposed to crony capitalism. We have crony capitalism when the state protects capitalists from their mistakes. This encourages the excessive risk that we have seen in the financial system which led to rich rewards for success and for failure. It not only occurred on Wall Street but it is also common in corporate executive suites. The growth in executive compensation is not closely related to business performance. Even those who fail badly exit from their jobs with golden parachutes.
Crony capitalism is partially responsible for the rise in inequality that we are experiencing, and rising inequality leads to a perversion of democracy. That is what the OWS protests are about.
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