The Wall St. Protest: Right or Wrong?

It began nearly three weeks ago with a few hundred disgruntled students, investors and unemployed workers voicing their concerns over Wall Street practices, a seemingly compromised and indifferent Congress and the future of the U.S. economy.

Since then, the crowds have swelled in the original protest spot near Wall Street in lower Manhattan. Some have joined the parade to be part of a happening, while others continue to share their concerns about what they believe is a system gone haywire. The New York Police Department presence continues to grow with the number of protesters. As tensions flare, pockets of support for the protestors are erupting on college campuses and in other places around the country.

Here, in a part of the country in which many of our friends and relatives are employed in the financial markets (although not as many as were employed in the sector before the 2008 markets meltdown), people are trying to make sense of a troubled institution and see their way out of economic hardship that seems bleaker than in even distant memories.

But many questions remain: are the protestors making a point or are they merely tilting at windmills, grandstanding for the cameras and offering no solutions? Are the power brokers, in government and on Wall Street, an affluent, indifferent minority riding out the storm until another crisis catches protestors' interest.

As we all consider the issue, let us know where you stand? Vote your conscience and tell us how we can provide more information about the turmoil in our back yard and around the country.