Joe Biden Sides with Occupy America

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Biden: Wall St protests Demonstrate

Americans See System Unfair

Vice President Joe Biden demonstrates empathy with Occupy America protests.

Reuters reported that Joe Biden said the spreading protests against Wall Street shows Americans’ anger about worsening economic disparities. Let’s be honest with one another. What is the core of that protest? The core is the bargain has been breached with the American people. The American people do not think the system is fair or on the level. That is the core is what you’re seeing with Wall Street, Biden told the Washington Ideas Forum.

There’s a lot in common with the Tea Party. The Tea Party started, why? TARP. They thought it was unfair. Biden cited Bank of America’s recent decision to impose a $5 monthly fee on some debit card users as an example of new perceived unfairness related to the banking sector that has fueled more popular frustration.

[TARP is the Troubled Asset Relief Program signed into law by President George W. Bush, a component of the government’s measures to address the subprime mortgage crisis.]

Biden stated, The middle class folks, these guys with the debit cards, are on their back. And [banks] are going to charge them $5 to use the cards? At minimum, they are totally tone-deaf, adding at worst they are not paying their fair share. Banks are part of the problem in the economy.

Biden said Bank of America’s decision has outraged Americans who put the financial health of their country on the line to bail out banks. The announcement by Bank of America Corp. last week that it would charge customers $5 a month to use their debit cards has rung up animosity from coast to coast. CitiBank intends to charge customers a $20 monthly fee if customers have a balance of less than $15,000. Wells Fargo plans to charge debit card users $3 per month this fall.

Biden said The American people know… the reason the CEO of the Bank of America is still in business is because the guy making $50,000 bucks bailed him out.

Hardline conservative publication NewsMax accuses the president and vice president for egging on the burgeoning Occupy Wall Street protest that spread to cities across the country. Senior Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said he believes comments Obama made about running Republicans out of town could cause riots in this country because of what these people are doing.

Tea Party Express chairwoman Amy Kremer strongly disagreed that the Occupy America movement parallels the tea party movement. She sniped that the protesters were like a kid having a temper tantrum because their parents won’t buy them the whole ice-cream store. Their demands are ridiculous, absurd. This isn’t Wall Street’s fault. It’s Washington’s fault—and that’s where they should focus their efforts.

It appears there are differences between Occupy America and the tea party. Conservatives want government to quit interfering in their lives; progressives want the financial industry to stop meddling in their financial affairs and filching money from the middle class. Most, but not all, tea party conservatives are oblivious to the private sector’s focus on profits before people.

Asked if he was worried that business would see him as anti-business, The Business Insider reported, 99% of the American people won’t believe that. He added he’s not too concerned with what the banks think.

Biden said the economy is recovering, but not at the pace the administration would like. The car is out of the ditch…but it is only chugging along at 25mph when they are used to going 60.

The vice president believes the Republican leadership is “seriously hamstrung” by a divided party: I truly believe if Eric Cantor, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Barack Obama, were in a room, they could have worked out a jobs and deficit deal ‘grand bargain.’

According to Fox “News,” Biden stated, The middle class has been screwed. If the media outlet accurately quoted the vice president, the statement further underscores Biden’s support of Occupy America.

Biden is well familiar with financial declines that the American middle class suffers. His father suffered several business reverses by the time Biden was born. For several years, the family did not have enough money to rent an apartment and had to live with Biden’s grandparents. When the Scranton area declined economically during the 1950s, Biden’s father could not find enough work. They moved to Delaware where Joe Sr. found a job as a car salesman.

Mad Mike’s American thanks Reuters, NewsMax, Fox, and CBS.