Former financial regulator notes four themes of 'Occupy' protests

William Black, a former financial regulator, appeared Wednesday on Democracy Now to discuss the ongoing "Occupy Wall Street" movement. He has participated in the "Occupy Kansas City" demonstration and is currently an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Ever since protesters began camping out at New York City's Zuccotti Park on September 17, the movement has been criticized for having no clear purpose, demands or grievances.

"However, if you look, not just nationwide, but worldwide, you will see some pretty consistent themes developing," Black told Amy Goodman. "And those themes include: we have to deal with the systemically dangerous institutions, the 20 biggest banks that the administration is saying are ticking time bombs, that as soon as one of them fails, we go back into a global crisis. Well, we should fix that. Right?"

"There’s no reason to have institutions that large," he continued. "That’s a theme. That accountability is a theme, that we should keep—put these felons in prison, and there’s no action on that. That we should get jobs now, and that we should deal with the foreclosure crisis."

"So those are four very common themes that you can see in virtually any of these protest sites. And they have asked me, for example, to come to New York to talk about some of these things."

"So, I think, over time, you won’t necessarily have some grand written agenda, but you’ll have, as I say, increasing consensus. And it’s a very broad consensus. It’s not left, it’s not right; it’s not Republican, it’s not Democrat."

Watch video, courtesy of Democracy Now, below: