Will the politics of wall street come North?

• Author: Atkins, Michael
• Position: PRESIDENT'S NOTE

I think I'm part of the one per cent. You know the one per cent they are talking about on the streets of New York, London, Toronto, Rome, etc. I didn't mean to be part of the one per cent. I lost so much money in the early years you would have found me at zero per cent in a bachelor apartment in Sudbury with running water that ran all the time, windows that didn't open, and doors that didn't close. I wasn't there that much anyway because all I did was work. It took me a long time to get over working all the time because I liked it too much. Getting a life was much tougher than making money, but I digress.

The thing for me about being in the one per cent is that it doesn't feel like it The reason is that no matter how well I do with one of my businesses, there is always another one I own losing money, growing or dying. I always think the dying ones are going to eat up the successful ones so I never get to feel like a one per center because I know tomorrow I'll be on the street.

Of course that looks pretty absurd to a young person out of work and patience on the street looking at me with nice cars and more I than one home. It is ridiculous.

I'm glad our young people have found a pulse. I come from a family of protestors and activists and agree bankers and brokerage firms who are bailed out need regulations and some notional accountability for their greedy behavior

The growing gap between rich and poor is a leading indicator of a society which is forgetting about its social contract between the people who are governed and those who govern. All of this started with Jean Jacques Rousseau in the 1700s who wrote a book at the time, not un-controversially, suggesting that Kings and Queens did not have a divine right to rule without consent from the people.

Today's Kings and Queens are the banks, the hedge funds, the globalized billion-dollar corporations and the governments ch they buy around the world (see demise of Liam Fox, minister of defense in Britain, for a refresher or Google Rupert Murdoch for a white paper on corporate power corruption). All these companies are owned by shareholders. The companies' stated duty is to maximize profit for shareholders. Why would we be surprised that enormous power centred in these organizations with no societal obligations beyond satisfying shareholders would lead us astray.

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