Will Occupy Wall Street Fizzle or Flare?

Making News

November US Consumer Confidence Jumps More than Expected ()

Retailers have worried about the upcoming holiday season, but consumers are bullish, at least for the moment. The private research group called the Conference Board said today that consumer confidence rose from 40.9 to 56.0 in last month, the biggest gain in eight years. Kathleen Madigan is economics columnist at the Dow Jones Newswire.

Guests:

• Kathleen Madigan: Dow Jones Newswires

Main Topic

Occupy Movement's Last Gasp or a New Beginning? ()

New York Police roughly ousted Occupy Wall Street campers in Zuccotti Park, and occupations in cities around the country had similar endings. The use of force gave the movement additional visibility, and even a kind of credibility. In Los Angeles, it's a different story. In October, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council endorsed Occupy LA and gave campers raincoats on a stormy day. Now the Mayor has declared the encampment around City Hall both "unsustainable" and illegal. But the LAPD has yet to make more than a few token arrests. In two months, occupiers have spread to 900 cities worldwide, created the "99%" catchphrase and made income inequality part of the national dialogue. Now there's talk of "occupying" next year's political party conventions, or maybe the Congress. But will Occupy Wall Street ever compare to the civil rights or anti-Vietnam movements?  Is it the Tea Party of the Left?  We get a range of opinions.

Guests:

• Ian Thompson: ANSWER Coalition
• John Heilemann (@jheil): New York magazine, @jheil
• Frank Newport: Gallup Poll, @galluppoll
• Charles C.W. Cooke: National Review, @charlescwcooke
• Michael Kazin: Georgetown University

Links:

• WWLA on the future of Occupy LA
• Gallup Poll on support for the Occupy movement
• Field Poll on Californians and the Occupy movement
• NBC News/WSJ Poll on protesters and the future of the Occupy movement
• Heilemann on the Occupy movement and the 2012 presidential election
• Cooke on the future of Occupy Wall Street
• Dissent magazine on the Occupy movement
• Kazin's 'American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation'

Reporter's Notebook

Judge Rejects Citigroup/SEC Settlement ()

In cases involving Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, UBS and other big corporations, the Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed fraud charges to be settled. Companies pay fines without admitting they've done anything wrong, even promising not to do again what they haven't admitted to in the past. Today, District Judge Jed Rakoff essentially said, "not in my courtroom." The SEC had accused Citigroup of selling a $1 billion mortgage fund to investors without telling them it was betting the deal would fail. When it did, Citi made $160 million while investors lost $700 million. Rakoff's refusal to approve a $285 million fine without admission of wrongdoing could make a difference on Wall Street says Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine.

Guests:

• Matt Taibbi: Rolling Stone, @mtaibbi