Occupy Wall Street Gains Momentum

With the low point of Minor wave 1 down in sight, bearish social mood continues to increase at all levels. One of the protests that continues to gain steam is the movement that carries the name "Occupy Wall Street". Not only is the protest continuing to gain steam, but it has also spread to a number of cities such as Boston, Los Angeles, and even Washington DC. The protests started on September 17, 2011 and continue to grow in extent and numbers.

There has been a number of significant developments since "Occupy Wall Street" started:

1 -- On September 24, 2011, a group of protesters were maced by police officers. This event provoked a response from the hacker group Anonymous with the ultimatum that subsequent acts of brutality will result in the police department getting cut off from the Internet.

2 -- On September 26, 2011, Michael Moore showed up at the protests, giving a speech at Liberty Plaza.

3 -- On September 28, 2011, actress Susan Sarandon appeared at the protests, denouncing the wealth gap between the wealthy and the working class. On that same day, Transport Union Workers of America (TWU Local-100) throws their backing with the protests.

4 -- On September 29, 2011, the protests spread to San Fransisco as a group of protesters attempt to occupy Citibank, Chase, and enter a Charles Schwab financial institution.

5 -- On September 30, 2011, AFL-CIO president Charles Trumka speaks out on the protests, recognizing the need for balance between the real economy and the financial economy. Unions started to become increasingly involved in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

6 -- On October 1, 2011, The "Occupy Wall Street" protest continued to gain support from more unions as two national unions, National Nurses United and Laborers' International Union of America, cast their full support for the protests. Protests spread to a number of cities as Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and many others are affected. A large group of protesters shut down half of Brooklyn Bridge for several hours. The occupation of the bridge is followed by mass arrests with over 700 protesters arrested by the end of the day.

7 -- In spite of the mass arrests, protesters remained defiant with many people determined to remain at the scene for the long haul.

Another aspect of bearish social mood that is evident is authoritarianism. The NYPD wasted no time arresting protesters when "Occupy Wall Street" commenced in an effort to stop the protest from picking up momentum. So far, almost 750 protesters have been arrested since the protests started, yet the protests continue to pick up momentum.

In the short term, expect "Occupy Wall Street" to continue picking up momentum with more people showing up. Expect the NYPD to step up the mass arrests in an effort to put an end to the protests. Once Minor wave 1 down in social mood is complete around October 10, 2011, expect the protests to slowly abate (but not completely) over time as Minor wave 2 up unfolds through the rest of the year.

If "Occupy Wall Street" persists into February 2012, increasingly bearish social mood associated with Minor wave 3 down will act to re-ignite the protests with a much larger number of people (possibly rising to 20000 or more by April 2012) taking part in the demonstrations. Tensions between the demonstrators and the NYPD could turn very ugly in the aftermath of reaching the center of Intermediate wave (1) (of Primary wave [3] (2011 - 2016)) down around March / April 2012 with the possibility of the NYPD resorting to the use of deadly force to end the protests.