In my last skewer, I argued that the growing income disparity in this country is not tenable.  Occupy Wall Street has since been born out of the frustration of average citizens who witness Sallie Krawcheck getting $6 million for getting fired from Bank of America, yet can’t wrangle an interview for a night-shift job at Wendy’s.  And don’t think that any of the 99% crowd will be mollified by the 11-year prison sentence meted out to billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam for fraud and insider trading.  One needs to realize that the only reason Raj was even prosecuted, let alone convicted, is because he, like Bernie Madoff, stole from rich people.  Raj, in the words of Young Jeezy, ain’t no “7-11 nigga.”

True, profits are shiriking for the likes of J.P. Morgan (third-quarter income fell 33% to a paltry $3.1 billion) and share prices have indeed tumbled for most financial instutions (Goldman Sachs common has shed 42% this year), but it’s hard to imagine that Jamie Diamond and Lloyd Blankfein are feeling the totality of our pain as they shuttle betwen the Federal Reserve Discount Window and the Ferrari dealership on Park Avenue.  Meanwhile, finanial services billionaire and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the protesters gathered in Zuccotti Park to disband, ostensibly to allow sanitation crews to address the “unsanitary conditions and wear and tear” visited upon the downtown plaza over the last 26 days.  As Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly expounded: “After it’s cleaned, they’ll be able to come back. But they won’t be able to bring back the gear. The sleeping bags, that sort of thing, will not be able to be brought back into the park.”  I guess that leaves really big jackets…

While not quite as disdainful as Marie Antoinette’s rejoinder to her starving subjects, the administration’s response reminds us that the pervasive disconnect between the uber-haves and the rest of us is what sparked the French Revolution.  Though not yet to scale, other sit-ins have sprung up in Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and myriad other locations.  It is my earnest hope that we have finally, finally woken up from the effects of Dick Cheney’s dream dust and begin, in large numbers, to kick some serious ass.