Friday, October 28, 2011

Occupy Wall Streeters' offer to buy CEO of Morgan Stanley lunch!!!

On Friday, Occupy Wall Street marched north. Long before the marchers arrived, knots of New York City police could be seen in front of just about any financial office in midtown; the big banks also had barricades and security checks. The protesters were orderly (they even waited for traffic lights to turn before crossing, which is rare for anyone in the city), carrying signs such as "you got bailed out, we got locked out" and "Billionaire Pigs" with pictures of Jamie Dimon and other bank CEOs wearing snouts.

Once in place, they took to chanting ("modify loans, keep us in our homes") and reading from letters sent by OWS supporters to bank executives. The big difference uptown was that there are a lot more bona fide bankers. If you want to yell at big banks, don't go to Wall Street -- go to Park Avenue. That's where JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have their headquarters; the Bank of America Tower is a few blocks away. As demonstrators dressed as "bank pirates" rode up in pirate ship/bikes, curious Chase employees snapped pictures and watched from the windows above. (According to a tweet from @TheOther99, while at the Morgan Stanley building, demonstrators invited CEO James Gorman to lunch: "We'll pick up the tab..we've been doing it for five years!")

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