占领华尔街运动将向何处去

    然而，占领华尔街抗议活动目前已经蔓延至美国数十个地区，它的口号“我们是那99%的人”可能会为它赢得动力，利希顿斯坦说。

    “这似乎是在重演18世纪的历史，”他解释说。他指的是美国宪法中所规定的财产所有者权利。白人、男性乡绅可以投票。其他85%到90%的人群则没有这项权利。

    “这不仅仅是收入问题，”利希滕斯坦解释说 。“有种观点认为，在当今世界，有少数生产者，如史蒂夫•乔布斯或沃伦•巴菲特，是有德行的但还有占据人口总数1％人，他们是一帮寄生虫。这种思想可以追溯至大英帝国时代“。

    “99%人群”表示，他们抗议的是一小撮控制着全美约三分之一财富，约20%收入的人。到目前为止，针对华尔街及其不端行径的怒火尚未取得进展，但威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校（the University of Wisconsin, Madison）研究20世纪历史的学者威廉•P •琼斯认为，占领华尔街的抗议者已经对政治话语产生了影响。

    “抗议活动开始后的一周之内，就有人提出要向富人征收附加税。这有助于促使人们关注财富的急剧集中问题，”他说。

    目前还没有哪位金融巨头在祖可蒂公园露过面。鉴于此，占领华尔街的示威者上周把他们的讯息带到了摩根大通（JPM）首席执行官杰米•戴蒙和为保守派运动提供资金支持的亿万富翁、实业家大卫•科赫的家中。此举是效仿2008年金融危机爆发之后的做法。当时，一些获得高报酬的银行家的住宅被示威者团团围住。

    花旗集团（Citigroup）首席执行官维潘伟迪本周在接受《财富》杂志（Fortune）主编赛安迪采访时，表示愿意跟示威者见面，但也仅此而已，而且会面时间和地点尚未确定。

    抗议活动到目前为止还相当文明，但令美国民众大为不满（尤其是在过去两年中）的一个热点问题有可能会再次露头。这就是华尔街从业者每年获取的高得令人乍舌的奖金：数十亿美元的现金和股票红利。

    华尔街发放奖金的日子通常在新年后，往往可能是在解雇通知书到达高盛公司（Goldman Sachs）、花旗集团和其他主要金融机构较下层金融员工的案头之后不久，因为这些金融机构的营收目前已经出现下降。

    然而，即使在最艰难的日子，华尔街的从业者每人平均获得的奖金金额也在40万至50万美元，即使是这个数字也可以很轻松地达到任何一位示威者薪酬的99倍之多。

    译者：任文科

    But the Occupy Wall Street protest, which has been burgeoning in dozens of other American locales, may gain traction with its slogan, "We are the 99%," says Lichtenstein.

    "It echoes back to the 18th century," he explains, referring to property-owner rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The white, male landed gentry could vote. The other 85% to 90% could not.

    "It's not just a question of income," explains Lichtenstein. "There was a view that there was a small group of virtuous producers, like Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett in today's world," he says, "and there was a parasitical 1% of the population, an idea that goes back to the time of the British."

    The "99 percenters" say they are rallying against the small sliver of people who control about one-third of the country's wealth and about 20% of its income. Thus far, the anger against Wall Street and suspected wrongdoing has made little headway, but the Occupy Wall Street protesters have made an impact on the political discourse, contends William P. Jones, a 20th-century historian at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

    "Within a week after the protest started, there was talk of a tax surcharge on the wealthy. That helps to focus attention on the dramatic concentration of wealth," he says.

    No financial titans have been milling about Zuccotti Park, so Occupy Wall Street demonstrators last week took their message to the New York homes of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) chief executive Jamie Dimon and billionaire industrialist and conservative movement financier David Koch, taking a page from the post-2008 financial crash where some residences of highly remunerated bankers were picketed.

    Citigroup (C) CEO Vikram Pandit went so far as to say he'd be willing to meet with protesters during an interview this week with Fortune's managing editor Andy Serwer, but a time and place has yet to be set.

    So far, it's all been quite civil, but one of the flashpoints of discontent around the country, especially in the last two years, is about to recur. It's the jaw-dropping billions of dollars in cash and stock bonuses awarded annually on Wall Street.

    The award period typically arrives after the New Year, not too long after pink slips are likely to be arriving on the desks of lower-down financial workers at Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup and other major financial institutions whose revenues have dipped.

    But even on the worst days, the bonus payouts -- averaging around $400,000 to $500,000 per worker -- are easily 99 times those of any protester's paycheck.