October 11, 2011

Wall Street Activists Being Paid to Protest



Wall Street Activist Says He is Being Paid to Protest

October 11, 2011

Spokane Conservative Examiner - One Chigaco protester is allegedly being paid $22 and hour - plus overtime - to protest "corporate greed," the International Business Times reports.

The IBT adds that's "more than many Americans with actual jobs."

According to the IBT:

Business Insider has obtained a video interview of a seemingly well-informed Chicago protestor who mentions -- almost in passing -- that he gets paid $22 an hour plus overtime to participate in a Chicago offshoot of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests.

The protester calls this a "full time gig" but fails to say who is actually paying him. According to the man in the video, his benefactor is "getting his money's worth."

The Times notes that at $22 an hour, this protester is being paid three times the local minimun wage of $7.33 an hour.

Business Insider, however, seems skeptical:

Not sure if the video below is real or not--perhaps it was created to make the Wall Street protesters look bad--but this Chicago "protester" appears to say that he's getting paid to complain about corporate greed.

If this protester's allegation is true, Business Insider says it raises a "host of questions," such as:

  • How many of the "protesters" are getting paid?
  • Who is paying them?
  • Do the ones who are not getting paid know that some of their brethren are making more for chanting and holding signs than most Americans with actual jobs?

The IBT says, however, that the fact this protester does not make the allegation until three minutes into the recorded interview "undermines the possibility it was staged."

Last Thursday, an organizer for Occupy DC admitted paying some Hispanic protesters to carry signs, and a craigslist ad put up by New York's Working Families Party promises to pay protesters $350 - $650 per week.

A video at The Blaze showing how the protests were organized, indicates that an ACORN/SEIU front group with ties to the Administration, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Socialists of America planned the protests - all with the backing of the Tides Foundation and George Soros.



Occupy Wall Street: Are Protesters Being Paid?

October 11, 2011

The Week - Conservatives insist that a Craigslist ad from the liberal Working Families Party proves that the Left is hiring protesters for $350-$650 a week.

A reader at the conservative blog PowerLine has spotted a Craigslist ad from New York's progressive Working Families Party, which is apparently looking to hire people for $350 to $650 a week to "fight to hold Wall Street accountable."

The "immediate hires" must be "outgoing, articulate, dedicated, determined," and "energetic communicators," the ad says. But "this is not a policy job! Through direct action you will be shaping NY state politics for the next 20 years."
Outraged conservatives read this as liberals paying people to attend the Occupy Wall Street protests. Is this proof the Left is secretly bankrolling the movement?

Related: 5 facts about the Occupy Wall Street movement

This sure looks like Astroturfing to me: The ad doesn't specify what you're supposed to do for $350 a week, says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. But "the headline strongly suggests that the position entails getting paid to protest," and "'direct action' usually means protesting." The most obvious explanation, then, is that "WFP wants Astroturfers, presumably to join other Astroturfers," on Wall Street. It would be interesting to know how many of the Occupiers are already on WFP's payroll. - "Political party paying Occupy Wall Street protesters?"

This conspiracy theory is just "silly": This isn't the first right-wing attempt at "'exposing' the secret liberal money behind the Wall Street occupation," says Harry Siegel at The Village Voice. But it might be the dumbest. The ad's obviously the kind liberal groups like WFP "have run for years, under some topical banner, to find kids willing to take low-paying, rather lousy canvassing jobs." If any of these conspiracy-mongers had bothered to call WFP, they'd look much less foolish now. - "Right-wing sites succumb to silly Occupy Wall Street conspiracies"

The protesters are pro bono — and anti-Obama: "Occupy Wall Street is confusing to many Americans," not just right-wing bloggers, says David Weider at MarketWatch. But after talking to participants for a month, I can say with certainty that "not one is getting paid to protest." Quite the opposite: Many of them "have sacrificed income to march." And there's one more way I know they're not paid Democratic shills: Almost every one "complained about Obama and how he's pandered to Wall Street interests."

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