MSNBC: Lobbying firm’s memo spells out plan to undermine Occupy Wall Street
A lot of people on Wall Street should be shaking in their boots after a memo written by a lobbying firm that has done work for the American Bankers’ Association proposed actively countering and undermining OWS. While the ABA says that this proposal was unsolicited, what MSNBC reports is pretty damning of the industry’s attitudes towards OWS and industry reform:
CLGC’s memo proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct ‘opposition research’ on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct ‘negative narratives’ about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.
According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, ‘This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.’
The memo also suggests that Democratic victories in 2012 should not be the ABA’s biggest concern. ‘… (T)he bigger concern,’ the memo says, ‘should be that Republicans will no longer defend Wall Street companies.’
For me, this is the kicker:
The CLGC memo raises another issue that it says should be of concern to the financial industry — that OWS might find common cause with the Tea Party. ‘Well-known Wall Street companies stand at the nexus of where OWS protestors and the Tea Party overlap on angered populism,’ the memo says. ‘…This combination has the potential to be explosive later in the year when media reports cover the next round of bonuses and contrast it with stories of millions of Americans making do with less this holiday season.’