Free Camping In Downtown Washington D.C.

The Occupy D.C. Protest was recently granted a four month permit according to NBC Washington. That means one thing among others to the homeless, free camping in a great downtown location without the same stigma of sleeping under newspapers on a curbside. In a word, depressing; this public camping shares similar themes to the 1930's Hooverville shantytowns built across the U.S. to protest President Hoover's administration.

Image attribution: Community of the Ark of Lanza del Vasto

If the 'Occupy Together' movement does not sound recessionary, economists that use the GDP decline measure of recession may be fooling themselves. According to the New York Times, the measure of recession used by the U.S Bureau of Economic Research emphasizes business cycles in their recession metric. Since some business cycles can have down trends during GDP up-trends, the concentration of the GDP metric is somewhat illusory in its representation of the 'whole' economy.

To add credence to the view recessionary conditions are represented by the Occupy Together movement, government statistics prove helpful. For example, The New York Times also reported that a U.S. Census study found inflation adjusted median household income declined 6.2 percent between June 2009 and June 2011. In other words, in terms of household income, the recession never ended during that period. 

The principle of recessionary conditions can also be applied to median household net worth which declined a staggering 26.5 percent or $17.5 trillion between Q3 2007 and Q1 2009 per the Washington Post. The recession may have ended for some businesses, but not for the average American which has something to do with what Occupy D.C. is all about i.e. a growing concern over a widening income disparity, and a need for free camping.

Occupy DC Demonstrates Widespread Discontent

The Occupy DC protest is an indicator of growing discontent with corporate and political practices in the United States.  So far the protests in downtown D.C. have been peaceful and legally permitted per the Washington Post. A worry lawmakers, and police have probably already considered is how masses of people protesting provides catalyst for escalation. According to Defense Actions LLC, flash mobs can occur in environments quite similar to those of public protests. 

The Occupy DC website clearly defines their cause. They are protesting poverty, economic disparity and corruptive corporate influences on political decision making. Occupy DC, Occupy Wall Street and the growing Occupations nation wide  can be characterized as  a left-wing political movement and echo some of the sentiments made in Wisconsin several months ago. Specifically, after the Wisconsin State Government sought to legislate against Union collective bargaining rights and higher insurance premiums, unionized labor protested according to the New York Times. and other agencies back in February 2011. 

According to Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc., the Occupy Together movement is reenergizing that sentiment expressed in Wisconsin. Posters on the Chanel 3000 website explain themselves. For example, according to 'Middle Class Moving Downward', "The hypocrisy is that many of the tea people have plenty yet feel entitled to their social security benefits when they could afford not to collect the benefits." The themes of both the Wisconsin protests and the Occupy Together movement share a doubt that legislative decision making is not effectively taking the middle class into account via pro-corporate votes and political gridlock.

There is an underlying theme to much of what is going on now. For the first time in many decades the U.S. economy is showing signs of wear and tear in the sense that its resilience to adversity might be weakening. This is apparent in economic indicators such as the uncharacteristically long period of high unemployment, high national debt and deficit spending, government cut backs and sluggish economic growth.  Perhaps we are not used to not having widespread wealth and are facing economic realities have living within means that have been normal for economies the world over. In such case, functional adaptation is key, a challenge we owe it to ourselves to rise above.