What the Wall Street protests will accomplish: 3 theories

Demonstrators try to call attention to bankers' misdeeds with a sit-in at the heart of the financial world. Will anyone listen to them?

An 'Occupy Wall Street' protester: For three days, thousands of people have rallied near the heart of the financial world to demand reforms.
(Image credit: CC BY: David Shankbone)

The "Occupy Wall Street" protest entered its third day on Monday, with organizers at the counterculture website Adbusters saying the demonstrators represent "the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent." A heavy police presence kept the protesters, who numbered several thousand at the peak of the weekend's rally, off Wall Street itself. Instead, demonstrators gathered in a nearby park demanding reforms to keep a financial meltdown from happening again. What will they accomplish? Here, three theories:

1. Nothing. This is utterly meaningless theater

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