For the 31st consecutive year, The University of Alabama’s Office of Media Relations offers predictions from faculty experts for the coming year.
As Occupy encampments around the country seem to be fading as we move into a new year, some analysts and media personalities are criticizing the movement for lack of focus and mission, and they are voicing the inevitable predictions of doom and failure for the movement.
But, not so fast, my friend, says Dr. Gary Hoover, assistant dean for faculty and graduate student development, professor of economics and William White McDonald Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Culverhouse College of Commerce.
Hoover’s specialty areas are public policy analysis, income distribution and public finance, so he knows whereof he speaks.
“The Occupy movements gained a great deal of attention in the United States over the fall of 2011,” Hoover says. “One of the arguments coming from protesters is that they are the 99 percent. By that, they mean that the voice of the top 1 percent of income earners in America had great influence on economic and political outcomes for the country, but the rest of the population was not being heard.
“And, some went so far,” Hoover says, “as to argue that the fortunes of many at the top were gained at direct cost to those in the middle and bottom.”
The UA economics professor says the movement only appears to have gone dormant in places like New York and Oakland where demonstrators were forced by police to leave their staging grounds.
“Without them being seen, it appears that their moment in the sun has faded,” Hoover says. “However, I predict that we have not heard the last of the Occupy Movement.
“In fact, I think they will be heard again and re-emerge on the political and economic landscape more determined and forceful than ever. Their message will resonate with a certain segment of society in the coming election cycle and have tremendous impact on outcomes as they energize voters.”