In New York City, some 500 supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement marched through the neighborhoods of some of the city’s wealthiest residents on Tuesday. The march was organized by 99 New York, a new coalition of groups formed around the growing movement. The demonstrators sought to pressure Gov. Andrew Cuomo to extend a surcharge tax on the state’s wealthiest residents. Demonstrators stopped by the homes of several New York City billionaires, including John Paulson, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, conservative billionaire David Koch, Emigrant Savings Bank chairman Howard Milstein, and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch.
Protester 1: “It’s the scene of the crime. Like, Wall Street’s here. This is where our money is. I’m from Michigan. This is where our money is. People lost their homes in the banking and mortgage crisis, and it went here. Like people here, I mean just in this neighborhood, there are unbelievably rich people here, and, you know, it’s just really sad to think about people back home and know how they’re suffering and how people here are making out like bandits.”
Protester 2: “I mean, enough is enough. The rich get away with everything. They pay no taxes. We pay a higher percentage in taxes, and we don’t have jobs. There’s no jobs. There’s 24 million Americans out of work. That’s insane. Twenty-four million, me being one of them. And I don’t see a way out of it, except something like this. It’s not going to change unless this happens.”