Singapore - 'Occupy' movement has a message

The 'Occupy' movement that began in North America on an anti-greed theme is drawing scorn from some of its principal targets, the banks and some politicians. America's Republican presidential hopefuls assail protesters for being "jealous" and "anti-capitalist".

Bankers in Wall Street and Europe say the financial institutions that the protesters regard as plunderers are not responsible for their plight. Some have branded the grassroots movement as being anti-success. It could be a label that would silence the protests as only the rant of unmotivated and unfocused people - yes, putatively the jealous.

If Occupy is interpreted thus, a cry of the age will have been missed. Rising up against corporate greed (not to forget venality) and executive excess is only the most attention-getting of Occupy's agenda. The spread of the protests to some 80 countries, prosperous Asia included, focuses attention on an issue that has become global: The social divide between the very rich and the rest, artfully described in Facebook and Twitter posts as the 99 per cent.

This is not a new problem nor ascribable to any one agency - or simplistically, "globalisation". But the problem is getting more pronounced, calling for new approaches to defuse resentment and spread resources better. Instant communications have created a phenomenon that had been brewing since globalisation dissolved business frontiers.

 Financial engineering and the digital revolution in more recent times have made a tiny community of smart people rich beyond compare - and many are not shy to rub it in by deploying assets to avoid onerous taxes, which most of the nominal 99 per cent cannot or do not dodge. In the United States, the Republican refusal to increase taxes on the very rich, even in the face of gaping fiscal deficits, has accentuated feelings of resentment among the poor and the middle class.

How governments in the advanced economies respond to the demand for social adjustments will test the best minds. It will indeed become class war if the elite in these countries see the protests simply as an enforcement matter. Prudent governments will acknowledge they are in a bind, but still work towards building less lopsided societies as best as thoughtful policies could allow.

No government can survive long if it stifles business creativity and tries to repel forces of globalisation, such as by shutting out competition and labour mobility. None can give the people all that they demand in the way of spending programmes. Western Europe gave and gave - and is paying a steep price in civilisational decline. But there is no doubt that something has to be done to bridge income and wealth gap. If the Occupy movement forces serious new thinking on this issue, it will have done its part.

News Desk 
The Straits Times

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