Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today / Business

Smart money: Heavyweights join 'wall' protest grou

By CAROLINE RITCHIE
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Oct, 2011 09:39 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The "wall" on Wall St was named after a barricade the Dutch built in the 17th century to guard themselves against pirates and Indians.

It was four metres tall and designed to keep out interfering strangers and, indeed, most common members of the public at the time.

Funny really, because the view of the general population in the US today is that they are the ones needing protection from Wall St, rather than the other way round. "In God We Trust" it says on US currency, but this stout resolve on which that nation was built sometimes gets a bit of a shake-up.

As one in six Americans now live in poverty and more than 45 million citizens were handed food stamps last month, it's no wonder groups such as Occupy Wall Street (#OWS) are gathering momentum.

Without going into the more vigilante aspects of the movement, #OWS is protesting against financial inequality and their Government's propping up of overpaid bankers while foreclosures, cuts to state aid programmes and unemployment rage away in the provinces.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Our traditional view of protesters in New Zealand might lead you to think that this collection of individuals are a bunch of scruffy hippies with nothing better to do.

Incorrect. Some heavyweights are getting in on this argument, and both of the prominent Buffets, senior and junior, (Warren and Howard respectively), are just two of them.

Before everyone starts leaping up and down and baying about yet more rich fat cats supporting populist causes to gain column inches, let's make an important distinction: there is a big difference between the conservative, ethical and client-focused investing of the majority and the activities of a tiny minority who generate all the notoriety, who often transact large amounts of corporate dosh in sometimes complicated and unfathomable ways.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

One of the centrally recognised problems in these hothouses of molten money is the eye-watering bonuses paid to the men who undertake these transactions. Even more contentious, and highlighted frequently by #OWS, is the lack of accountability when every horse runs last and the money goes down the tubes.

Ordinary Americans are left to pick up the pieces and pay for the damage. No wonder they're mad about it.

The occupationalists have whipped up a frenzy of exposure as they highlight one of our oldest social issues, the gap between rich and poor. Most reasonable people would agree with their causes.

The only snag is that, like so many who like to complain, they have no idea how to fix the problem.

Rest assured, guys, if the big boys could have mopped up this global mess by now, they absolutely would have.Caroline Ritchie is an authorised financial adviser with Forsyth Barr in Napier. She can be contacted on 0800 367 227 or by sending an email to: caroline.ritchie@forsythbarr. co.nz

This column is general in nature and should not be regarded as personalised investment advice. Disclosure Statements are available on request and free of charge.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Business

Premium
Opinion

Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

30 May 08:43 PM
Hawkes Bay Today

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

26 May 07:00 AM
Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

22 May 08:00 PM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Business

Premium
Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

Nick Stewart: What if you die with a big KiwiSaver balance?

30 May 08:43 PM

OPINION: How to spare your family pain in accessing the funds at a time of suffering.

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

'She is not going to prison': Woman avoids jail after cousin's fatal mattress fall from car roof

26 May 07:00 AM
Premium
KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

KiwiSaver changes 'a burden' for small businesses and self-employed

22 May 08:00 PM
Premium
Liam Dann: Upbeat Treasury forecasts GDP growth, rising house prices

Liam Dann: Upbeat Treasury forecasts GDP growth, rising house prices

22 May 05:39 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP