earth to the. well i'm tom hartman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture the occupy wall street protests are showing no signs of letting up millions of make up the ninety nine percent of those are rallying in cities across the nation the big show is in new york city tens of thousands in the streets so where does this movement go now and the corporate media has weighed in on the legitimacy of the occupy wall street demonstrations so to have politicians and policymakers will be people are saying i

mean up. you needed oh this the occupy wall street movement is put on steroids that is tens of thousands of unionized workers took to the streets in solidarity with the demonstrators have been camped out in lower manhattan for three weeks protesting against wall street's destruction of our economy a massive movement some estimates put the number of people in the streets at fifteen thousand marched through the streets of new york city flanked by hundreds of police officers and at least three n.y.p.d. choppers every over a crowd marched from the state courthouse to foley square and then on to broadway closing down that street similar marches took place in boston and san francisco as well so what does this day of action mean for the movement as a whole that i'm joined by stephen webster senior editor ross story stephen welcome

. thanks for joining us how do things go today. boy it was a really busy day of raw story and such are you seeing this we last heard website and read was happening now inside the there are. three protests so we went ahead and kicked up a special category just war are all sorted and it's been easily our most trafficked section of our website guy sysfs thought back to that it was grail at the very very good is this the tipping point for revolutionary changes in our political and economic system or is this just another. fad to sure so employ i don't know if it's a point but it's certainly a beginning i do need to see this fluid characterized as this year already for democrats because it's sold almost more than just that it's so much more than just . this really has the potential to be

a resurgence of votes that we saw during a group question this has essentially to catalyze perhaps you can move it towards roosevelt's second bill of rights which i'm sure you know but. it remains to be seen this is the beginning of inserting so you compare this more with the bonus army or the great flint sit down strike or something like that then i'm curious if if you think that maybe the tea party movement i'm not talking about the dick armey the p.r. firm fox news tea party you know the fancy buses with a hundred thousand odd paint jobs but that the average people who are showing up in the streets was that the same is a case is that the same energy was that coming in many cases in the same place they were just expressing it through the only political mechanism that they knew which was you know. reagan republican politics. i think you've hit the nail on the head

and i think when people really stop and take a look at this especially the results of our viewers the people who are ron paul supporters because of foreign policy because of his stance on the drug war because it's a stance on economic liberty. i think that you will find of those people really have a problem in some of the issues that are being raised close ninety eight percent which it's not so much partisan as strike group feels of the public good and i think there are probably three maybe four issues in america that even people on the right people who are more libertarian leaning crying common ground is very much percenters what kind of change to be involved in the unions make today was it moral support and this is here as a body is something else all will be about but i'm starting to become concerned that this movement is being increasingly brought over to the left being

increasingly grow to a democratic cause it went really been democrats haven't done much for these these parts of the. terms violence was tossed around a lot of the day and it's the truth this is a reaction to the failure of democrats but stephen wasn't that pretty much the case in the sixty's the democratic party had been pretty impotent through the fifty's and you know people in one hundred sixty four you had a port here on statement s.t.'s which had nothing to do with the war it was about social justice and ending racism and within that decade the democratic party had been pushed so hard by the by the s.d.s. now the student movements and civil rights movements that you had three major pieces civil rights legislation poverty was cut in half within five years an eighteen year olds got the vote i mean major stuff happened because the movement infiltrated the party base. yes yes that a bad thing. but obviously those movements didn't quite finish their work we still

have the rights that were we still don't have a right house and you still don't have rights here at all and that was proposed by f.d.r. sure that second bill of rights is the great unfinished business i believe this movement is for across i absolutely agree with you and it's something that probably only one percent of americans know about and every american should learn about high school or earlier the tea party has already by and large fizzled out they had a big tea party event in st louis about four weeks ago i think it was and they were expecting hundreds or thousands of people to show up for people showed up as i'm sure you reported on your website how long do you expect this movement to continue . there's really no telling. the give all of the unions yes grow out of body or maybe. brought money but if it becomes a partisan affair it's a huge homes fully co-opted by moneyed interests but i don't democratic party

it might and it will but if maintain their integrity and they're in him once and they maintain our focus on the common good i think it will mean. you know president obama's chief of staff bill daley said that this movement is his words not helpful on the other hand jay carney his official spokesman president obama's official spokesperson said that he understands that was the word he uses he used people's concerns how long before the president has to address either the the group in abstract or even the group directly. well let's be realistic president doesn't have to address any of them no matter what you do he's only recently started addressing progressive's and that's only because there's an election coming up i really don't know what his presents for you has really not been there were people who wrote him in office until just recently and whether to be there for these thoughts it remains

to be seen do you think that there are or are you noticing a morphine of the name of the group from occupy wall street since this is going on nationwide to the ninety nine er's are you seeing clues a better or any other name yeah i think ninety nine for certain is pretty much the problem term although there's been a lot of people talking about it i had to go there just kind of like inclusive of all the different occupy protests that are going on in what i've heard is over seventy u.s. cities and i know at least students that at least seventy five universities today are just paid in walkouts i think that your sense there was thick but if you go to be students rock fascinate stephen thanks so much for being with us tonight it's my pleasure. it's time it's time for ideas.

it's time for our daily poll your chance to tell us what you think here is that is question the i.m.f. finds the greatest factor of economic growth is a strong middle class american listen will america listen their choices are yes currently the u.s. is the most unequal nation in the developed world like the ivory coast ethiopia and pakistan or no republicans will win the war on the middle class live on a tower of an icon let us know what you think the poll would be open until tomorrow morning. yup as the good the bad of the very very near a silly ugly good elizabeth warren she's surging in the polls against incumbent senator scott brown in massachusetts and she's shy and last night in the state's first debate for the democratic nomination she served forbes magazine named scott

brown wall street's favorite senator and i was thinking that's probably not the word i'm going to get. so. if. she served her well which is why we need to keep we need her in the senate you put up a bad michele are you hypnotized bachmann on the campaign trail in iowa bachmann was asked by a supporter when we impeach president obama and get him out of the way as though people can just you know each a president if they don't like him but is there pushing back on the man's uninformed remarks ackman jumped on the crazy train with. are you sure he really is well i shouldn't be i'll tell you if you get married. as for why the president would be impeached bachmann didn't clarify but let's

assume something crazy happened bachmann got what she wanted when the president was impeached it's likely she wouldn't be there to vote for court and congressional quarterly congresswoman bachmann has missed one hundred fifty votes in the house since announcing her candidacy for president so maybe she is the one who should be kicked out of office and a very very a wall street i knew was it was filed in atlanta cork alleging that some of the biggest banks like j.p. morgan bank of america wells fargo fraud returning veterans out of hundreds of millions of dollars based on rules and within the budgets administration banks can't charge veterans for attorney fees or in home refinancing procedures so they get around that rule bankers just renamed the fees and hid them somewhere else to make sure that they could suck as much money as they could out of our nation's service. all street simply has no shame and they wonder why the rest of us the

ninety nine percent are upset that's very clearly. coming out the protesters on wall street love her or hate him i guess weigh in with their thoughts after the break. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions come to treatment breakthrough get through it if you have made who can you trust no one who is in view with a global missionary see where we had a state controlled capitalism is called sasha's when nobody dares to ask we do our t. question more. fear.

the events of today in new york city will only heighten the attention on the occupy wall street movement that already some of the nation's most influential politicians and policy makers are being forced to weigh in on what's going on around the country federal reserve chairman ben bernanke he was asked about the movement yesterday in a hearing on capitol hill here's what he said. generally i think people are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what's happening. they blame with some. justification the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess and they're dissatisfied with the policy response here in washington and.

at some level i can't blame them certainly nine percent unemployment the very slow growth is not a very good situation that's what they're protesting. and then today here's what congressman peter de fazio said about. i saw some fox commentators yesterday morning making fun of them think how do you think they got time off from work to home well they don't have jobs do they know they don't have jobs what are we doing to create jobs and give these kids a future in this country and radio in the gamblers on wall street restart the real economy the productive economy of this country. and i think the young people and the others who are joining them on wall street get it they might but others weren't so supportive here's herman cain is actually beginning to look like a front runner republican race for the presidency talking about occupy wall street . i don't have facts to back this up but i happen to believe that these demonstrations play and straight to distract from the failed policies of the obama

administration don't blame wall street don't blame the big banks if you don't have a job they unite reached blame you'll say you don't think the banks but as he said he doesn't have the facts to back it up and fellow front runner mitt romney called the movement gains yours he said it was class warfare honor of mitt with his four hundred million dollar fortune is having nightmares about sixteen so what's so what's the make of what's going on around the country today for more i'm joined by daniel helper to be on the editor the weekly standard and ben manson executive director of the liberty tree foundation and spokesman for the wisconsin way daniel then thanks tom friedman great to have both of you with us besides politicians the corporate media has weighed in on this we're going to take a look at what they have to say. no son ok we don't have it so any we've all heard what they have to say basically you know foxes. like you're in down there the other networks are like what everybody seems to not really know what's

going on so daniel. what exactly are these. people in the media many of whom embraced the tea party who agrees that he's very one of the afraid of wall street i fell for this i can't speak for others in the media and i can't i can only give sort of my impression of what the of what the movement is and why perhaps a few more are so worrisome about it if they are indeed worse than about it the the movement is two elements there are the grievances that the move that those in the movement air which are which seems to be anti corporate anti bank more jobs more environmental infrastructural spending and those areas will be down to the screwed up economy so there are yes there's so there and he screwed up economy and then there are also offering up solutions so i think a lot of people actually agree with the fundamentals you heard ben bernanke not by

no means a tea party or by no means it but a sensible serious guy it least i've got my boys there plenty of plenty of their cronies plenty of the elements that these guys have are shared by the tea party the problem comes with the solutions that these guys are offering and i think that's what you're going to see the argument that we're going to have probably tonight is not about the grievances because i agree with some of them what they're saying and as i'm sure you do the problem is that the solutions you have people who are up who are big government. advocates but they're also police haters you have people who are protectionist but they're also in favor of having open borders you have people who are job seekers but they're also seeking larger entitlements so the incoherence of the actual movement is what laughable and i think if you were g.o.p. strategist i mean you know we. to be honest i don't and i'm asserting that you laugh because i laugh but i did it very long so the point is if you have been in a please absolutely i think it's only confusing if you confuse people and property

so yeah i want open borders for people and i come from a state which was built through immigration and that's certainly where my ancestry comes from and i see what immigrants in wisconsin have to go through day in day out it's basically slave labor is what they're dealing with was about undocumented immigrants so yeah i want people to be able to travel freely i want people to have you know the ability to engage in commerce i don't want corporations to be dominating our political system our economy or any other aspect of our life i want corporations to serve the people and that's really what this is about i think is very clear what's happening on wall street and in boston and what's happened in wisconsin this past year and what's happened in washington d.c. tomorrow is that people are rising up this year in particular because of everything that's happened this past year all the austerity policies all the shift in the tax burden if that's going on and saying we've had it we can't bear this anymore and i think the reason why doesn't seem clear to some people in power is they don't want to hear it you know good for them and they're and they're right is to search that

there are a lot of problems in our society right now the problem is that and with think that i think the thing that's most useful discuss are this illusion that they're offering and they're not offering sensible sane solutions that are incoherence is not in there are they and it's not you're right we're right lou you're right you're right and i think you're right it is not on the democratic party's we can say what i think clearly because you would ask the g.o.p. strategist and say going before the two thousand and twelve election you've got an unpopular democratic incumbent how could you possibly make things better for the republicans they would say why don't you start a movement with michael moore susan sarandon roseanne barr have want to get the unions involved and then want to you have the professional left like jay carney and tim geithner start accepting these people and this is what you're having this is your reality which is crawl when. what's happening knowing that it was not serious i'm sure you didn't that's you know i was by the book i was on right wing media you know all across the country just past year talking about what was happening wisconsin and the problem the right wing has right now is that this is real when

you have students taking over administration buildings and rural counties in wisconsin where you have actions happening spontaneously students going on strike teachers going on a straight strike in a state like wisconsin all across the state not just in my hometown of madison and something is happening that i think really does scare what what we're for in the game know the reality is the problem is what our lives we don't pose a question to both of you know i believe and i know this is secondhand information from my mentions to me but i believe it to be a true and accurate quote that once basically revolutions happen or times of great social change happen when the people are demanding change they find life intolerable but the but the ruling classes were the decision making wise the legislative class doesn't have the ability to change and that's that's that you know that's that's another i that's that's a decent point i think the congress this locked up i'm not sure how inconsistent eric cantor says we're going to hold

a vote on the jobs bill and you've got you can always people have you know when you're complaining the people around him i'm not i'm not complaining that these people are unemployed i'm saying the the the solutions actually need to come in washington and the problem you know that's actually not where they need to come from because the banks aren't problematic by themselves for lending out money now if they're not going to go much more clearly states are money and they're not letting go of a money the banks are were not some of what some of the grievances are really student loans for and they want to do or check out the service of all he said debt for the first time in history i'm not saying that for the only nation is developing world he would need to have a dollar and it would make sense to an outsider to get mad at universities for charging so much for the further beyond reality when you. are angry at the universities and the. that you make a mistake and i think commentators based in washington d.c. make a mistake and they think this is all about democrats and republicans i'm not about that but i'm just saying what i'm seeing right where the two thousand and twelve elections this is about the reality that we've been living under for let me let me

just finish here for a generation and which working living conditions for working people have gotten worse and worse especially for young people and it finally hit a point this past year where class war was declared it was declared in my home state declared on working people in wisconsin and when they saw that government was taking the side of multinational capital against them they rose up and that's what's going on right now that's my point but the problem is actually with the government and that is the government being dominated by corporations i'm agreeing with you but i'm saying we need to change the government corporations are always going to act in your interest and yes we need to push them back but the government when these are you calling for a return of the sherman act you know what i'm what i'm suggesting is that the president president obama shouldn't put in charge jeffrey immelt the head as head of this jobs competitive council when guys that's another guy on the back of a no it's not really it's and and this is a link this cylindrical loan scandal to one percent of a program is ninety nine percent successful is george bush championed that for two years the point is not the point is the way things are done that the way that obama

backer can get money for a little loan us my friend i'm not saying there isn't some over there it's bush i and i me else i absolutely agree and it's going to remain silent when i would do it's a problem if you have a lack of clarity about what the goals are the objectives are occupy wall street is very significant because it's mostly led by people who have not been heard from before the new generation of people younger than my generation were out the streets and they're the center of power there in the real capital of the united states but if you go to wisconsin waveguide oric you can see the demands that we have very clearly been articulating every step of the way and i invite you to take a look this is not this is this is the first generation and since since nine hundred thirty nine hundred thirty two that is not going to do better than their parents period already started want to join i don't think that's wrong and i'm. i'm not suggesting that the cessation of the problem is wrong i'm suggesting that the solutions that that that a lot of these people on occupy wall street are offering are are wrong and are not are not going to end up so i think that they're great one of the reagan deregulated

the smells in eighty two it led to wild speculation the bet the s. no bankers respecting the crazy crash in eighty six reagan put sixteen hundred people on trial went to prison and he fired all the management he nationalized the s n l's he brought in bill siegman who over a twenty year period reprice reprivatize them and we all made of how often on top george bush did none of that he said to the genie diamonds in the in the lead going fans of the world oh i just thought here here we have a you know here's the fed has got three trillion bucks for you here's my point if you have a problem with crony capitalism the worst idea is to then increase the amount of money that you're spending from the people who are have been corrupt and who are doing who are making some of your money like all the break of the banks i'm not suggesting or no but i'm not suggesting that the banks problem for seeking money i'm suggesting for people giving them money to thirty percent of our economy there were eleven percent of our clients raiding him it's the people in government who are giving them large sums of money that's the problem that's that's what i'm

suggesting so if i'm honest i'm not afraid of investment i think investments great but i think it should be private investment people have incentives for more greater incentives for to succeed and they just see that your friend does well because you are giving your friend a federal loan that's worth a lot of there wasn't going in there was that's what i was going to point and i don't there was a very poignant moment moment when he was being grilled by bernie sanders and bernie sanders. so you know how's it going you know your belt we've thought it you you get these banks trillions of dollars trillions of dollars and practices we're going to do for small businesses he says well we're going to try to free up liquidity and get to the real this is are you going to get the small business money like you have a big business that's not what the fed does. well you know i mean i think there's dirt that's where the solutions are and my wife and i own a small business and i'll tell you there's a lot of small business people in wisconsin and around the country who recognize that their interest lies with their kids but their customers and with their neighbors and who want more investment not only in infrastructure but in basic

public services that believe that the access to education is something that's a birthright it's not something people should have to go into indentured servitude for and the reality is small businesses have not been helped and we do need a fundamental change in this country and i think the rule which is what i mean everybody is watching should be on the streets tomorrow we should. lower taxes and we should let people spend the money that they have and create more jobs and create more wealth and i'm pro growth i think there are income taxes on the federal income taxes that take some time out corporate i'm talking about all access. but make people actually pay what you want to do the sales i'm fine with lowering sales tax or local taxes anyway so that's not we're talking about the so you point is and you also then would want to slash the government so you know why don't we have this because the government is going to be rid of all the traffic lights no i'm not get rid of all i'm not so we don't you know stink and regulation on this is ludicrous not regulations people can run people can make their best decision on something he

should caricature somebody else argument is right here making the argument not suggesting get rid of argument i'm suggesting the government i'm suggesting some strength though try it true true that's right and it's true what's wrong with that you're just very you know tomorrow thousands of people are coming to freedom plaza and washington d.c. that's why i'm here right now lots of people from wisconsin are coming and we're coming because it's the eleventh anniversary of the invasion of afghanistan and we look at the trillions of dollars literally that we've wasted on these wars and the impact especially on young people i teach at madison area technical college and come back with all kinds of serious life changing injuries i guess i have to ask you concerning that's the majority of what our federal tax money goes to is either military spending or paying off interest on it favor cutting that's actually not it's five percent of g.d.p. . it's roughly what we spend i'm talking about the federal budget the federal budget. the federal the i don't know why we're time at this now but the federal government. want to do which is keeping america safe i think the last place you want to cut is the fans i think other places are great if you have it but so you

think keeping us safe means having soldiers not having well fed children and people who are whose cancers are treated i think keeping us safe requires given the choice choir's responsibility in world affairs in another and other places that much more of a libertarian then you can i don't i don't want big government with big guns well you just want big government with big checks giving them out not actually what government is globalism awesome or really great we're going to get jobs where the rabbit i mean obviously it's incoherence of the not the grievances i think i think a lot of conservatives are sympathetic to the grievances and i think i think i think they're making a mockery i think i'm going to sort of merging of the old tea party grassroots folks with these but i'll tell you your approach here part i told you. said you know how to thank you both thanks to there's something deeply ironic by the way about today's protests on wall street i'll tell you what that is later tonight like really take. coming up republicans are really going to sink the economy and show

everybody just how desperate they are to win the white house in two thousand and twelve discuss that and more tonight. what drives the world the fear mongering used by politicians who makes decisions to break through may who can you trust no one who is your view with local missionaries where we had a state controlled capitalism is called sasha's when nobody dares to ask we do you r t question more.