If I walk outside my lower Manhattan office building, I very quickly hear the drum beat coming from the Occupy Wall Street protestors, who one month in to their demonstration are still camped a few blocks away in Zuccotti Park. The political side of our festering financial and economic crisis has reached the sidewalks of New York and spread to cities around the world. From the beginning of the financial and economic slump, commentators and politicians have used our difficulties to advance causes that they probably held in more buoyant times. As the songwriter Steve Stills wrote about a mid-1960s street protest, they “mostly say ‘hooray for our side.’” So, what is their side?
The best characterisation that I’ve heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement’s diffuse goals came from an off-duty protestor who had weathered the economic storms well enough to afford a neighbouring table at one of my favourite New York restaurants. He told me that he did not really know what should be done. He just believed that things were going from bad to worse and wanted to raise the temperature of debate in the hope that something good would boil up from the process.
At its core, finance is about linking people with savings to those that can put it to productive use. Performed correctly, it can fund retirement accounts, foster growth in emerging markets and support the technology companies that help protestors assemble in a flash. A well-functioning financial system is critical for economic growth. Investments that support worthwhile projects can build the human and physical capital that generates growth and raises standards of living around the world.