Occupy Wall Street: The Solution to the Collapse of the Economy? In October of 2008 Congress, passed a $700 billion rescue bill to bail out, and possibly save, the doomed U.S. and global financial systems from collapsing. This decision was only a piece to the $1 trillion government plan to level off the stock market and unfreeze the credit which was needed after the collapses of the financial institutions of Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual. The government also stepped in and federally took over such institutions as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which together hold about $5.4 trillion in mortgage loans; 45 percent of the national total. The governmental firms were heavily burdened because of bad investments in subprime mortgages and …show more content…

There was already a three week encampment near City Hall in a protest of layoffs and cuts to social services. The New York City General Assembly met first at the Charging Bull in Bowling Green. They then changed meeting locations all around at different locations at the Irish Hunger Memorial and Tompkins Square Par; the turnout was between 60-100 people. (Schneider) The first initial gathering point for the NYC General Assembly was at the Charging Bull in Bowling Green, New York. On September 17th, people came from all over the country, united by the appeal of swarming the money changers of Wall Street at the Charging Bull in Bowling Green, New York City. The numbers were closer to 2,000 people not 20,000. The first initial gathering point for the NYC General Assembly was at the Charging Bull. The plan was to meet with the General Assembly at the Chase Manhattan Plaza, but the terrace was closed off. Leaflets quickly were circulated through the crowd about the location; they ended up meeting in Zuccotti Park. The first General Assembly was held in Zuccotti Park, before 2006, known as Liberty Park, the name is still displayed. They also called the park called “Freedom” Park in comparison to the Tahrir Square which translates to “Liberation” square in Cairo, Egypt. As the first night wore on, the crowd thinned down in numbers to about 200-300 people in the park. By 11p.m. the New York Police Department massed. More than 20