Assignment 1: The “Occupy Wall Street” Movement That Began In The Fall Of 2011.



Table of Contents

Introduction1

Discussion1

Perspectives of Ethics and OWS3

Responsibility of Inequality4

Equitable Outcome4

Future4

Assignment 1 The “Occupy Wall Street” Movement That Began In The Fall Of 2011.

Introduction

This paper discusses the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement from various dimensions. It elaborates the underlying ethical and moral implication. It will be discussed that, this movement fits in which of the theories of ethics, utilitarianism, Kantian or Virtues ethics. Furthermore, it will be discussed what has led to such consequences as of income inequity and unequal distribution wealth, and whose responsibility it is. Then some suggestions regarding the equitable outcome regarding the movement will be presented. Finally, we will predict the future of this movement in the light of past and present.

Discussion

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is basically a protest that began on 17th of September, 2011, in Zuccotti park. It is located in the Wall Street Financial District of New York. From the location of its first protest, it got the name of “Wall Street”. Initially started by a Canadian Activist group named Adbusters but has now resulted in worldwide occupy protest and movements. The main economic and moral issues in the movement have been in the general public's mind for a long time. These include economic and social inequality, corruption, greed, and undue influence on government by corporations, especially from the financial service sector. The slogan of this movement is 99%, which elaborates the fact that, only 1% of the population is prohibitively rich while all the others face challenges whether it is economic downturn or health care policies. The general assembly of the movement is responsible for making consensus based decisions.

The focal point of the movement is the inequality of income and unequal distribution of wealth. The income inequality has been increased in the last three decades. Economic stagnation has affected the middle segment the most. The figures reveal that, rich have become richer while poor has become poorer. The Guardian UK and Simon Rogers argue in their piece "Occupy protestors say it is 99% v 1% Are they right?" (Guardian, 2011). They say that, the situation of US is worsened to an extent that, one in seven Americans is living below the poverty line, while one in six Americans has no health insurance. Furthermore, one in seventeen Americans earn income below the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Food insecurity is now a problem of 14.5% Americans (Smeeding, 2005). These figures are enough to exaggerate the feelings of the Americans, which has resulted in the movement initiation. Roger further states that, until this movement, these issues have not been entertained as important national issue.

Other points of major concern for the movement are corruption, undue influence of corporation on Government and involvement of money in elections, while it is widely believed that, candidates are elected, however many people get surprise when they come to know the funding which is spent on campaign during elections. The question wanders in minds of general ...