According to Rupert Murdoch's paper the New York Post - Occupy Wall Street has cost businesses around Zuccotti Park nearly half a million dollars so far.
The right-wing newspaper reports that business owners are complaining that the sight of the patriots organizing nearby deters customers from shopping or dining inside.
Like most things that come out of Rupert Murdoch media empire - from the Wall Street Journal to GOP TV - Fox News - to the New York Post - you have to question whether or not this report is true.
And true or not it certainly ignores the millions in tourist dollars coming into Manhattan because of Zuccotti Park and what's going on there. But let's ignore that part and pretend for a moment that the Murdoch report in the New York Post actually is true.
That Occupy Wall Street actually is costing some nearby businesses a few hundred thousand dollars.
Which raises the question, might that not be a small price to pay to fix a corrupt economic system run by banksters who cost our economy TRILLIONS - not hundreds - not thousands - not billions - not millions - but TRILLIONS of dollars?
Consider these numbers...
Today - only 58% of Americans have a job thanks to the banksters' economic meltdown and George W. Bush's Republican Great Recession.
Today - 53 million people are without health insurance thanks to a health care system that only benefits the 1%.
Today - thanks to the 1% economy - 49 million Americans live in poverty - including one out of every 5 children.
Today - 44 million Americans are on food stamps - nearly half of them children.
Today - thanks to the the 1% economy that has sent nearly all of the new wealth created in our nation since 1980 to just the top 1% - the average annual income for Americans is a measly $26,261.
That's because the typical hourly wage has gone up just $1.23 over the last 36 years.
So since people don't have enough money to pay for rising food, energy, healthcare, and education costs in this new 1% economy - then people have to buy credit cards to compensate - and sink deeper and deeper into debt.
Today - the average American household is burdened with over $75,000 in debt.
And consider this - while the New York Post is reporting that Occupy Wall Street is costing businesses a few hundred thousand dollars - American families today are 7.7 trillion poorer than they were in 2007 - before the banksters who surround the Zuccotti Park crashed our economy.
So isn't THAT what the New York Post should REALLY be focusing on?
Occupy Wall Street isn't free.
There may be businesses losing out on some customers - there may be a local government paying police officers overtime to crackdown on Occupy Wall Street - even though they probably don't have to.
But think of this lost money as an investment.
Occupy Wall Street is an investment today - so that our economy doesn't get swindled by the top 1% for the next 30 years like it has for the last 30 years.
And whatever lost revenue some of the shops near Zuccotti Park may be missing out on - imagine what kind of damage would be done WITHOUT Occupy Wall Street - and with banksters running around wild again like they did back in 2008.
That's The Big Picture.
