Michael Moore: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ goal is ‘perp walks’ for bankers

By Jeff Poor

They’re mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. But there’s just one problem: No one in the Occupy Wall Street movement seems to know what “it” is.

On Monday night’s broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” liberal documentarian Michael Moore took a shot at spelling out some goals for the ragtag protest movement. Moore said he spotted a host of issues in play at the lower Manhattan protests, but he put a specific emphasis on “justice” for Wall Street bankers.

“This is going to dovetail with so many things,” Moore said. “People who have lost their homes, the 50 million who don’t have health insurance, all of the disparate groups of people who have been affected by the greed on Wall Street, they have had it. And I will tell you, President Obama — he would be smart right now to not just give another speech but actually have his Justice Department either have a special prosecutor or investigation and go after the people that stole this money. The people want a perp walk. They want to see people led away in handcuffs with a coat over the head and because that’s going to be some form of justice.”

Moore also said the movement wants a more democratic economic system, in which ordinary people have a say in how the economy is run.

“The economic system, itself, at its core is unfair,” Moore said. “It’s not just. And it’s not democratic. And we live in a democracy and we have to have full democracy now. Not just voting for politicians. ‘Oh, yeah, I live in a democracy because I get to vote.’ I, you, everybody else here wants a say in how this economy is run. We are affected by it in our daily lives and people are not going to tolerate this anymore.”

Later he explained what the protesters are thinking about.

“They are concerned about the short-term goals — tax the rich, jail the bankers,” Moore said. “A moratorium on foreclosures so no one is thrown out of their home. Reintroducing a real healthcare plan that covers everyone, truly covers everyone. These should be the short-term goals, but the larger long-term goal is these people, the young people do not want to grow up, do not want to live in a society where the upper 1 percent owns everything, including our political system, and the other 99 percent are to scramble for the crumbs … We are the 99 percent. The 1 percent in a democracy do not call the shots. I think the 99 percent do. And this is hopefully where it’s going to head.”