On October seventeenth (O17), a group of about 10 occupiers gathered outside 15 Central Park West, the address of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein’s multi-million dollar condo. Occupy Goldman Sachs was born. In the model of sleepful protests, they set up camp across from the building’s main gate. They brought sleeping bags, signs, food, cameras...and have not left the area since.

It’s now been over 40 days, and they are going strong. They have bounced around the building, to keep the NYPD on their toes and avoid bad weather. Arrests have been minimal and outreach has been phenomenal. The support from the neighborhood has been extremely positive, people are constantly stopping by with words of support and encouragement.

They decided as a unit to hold the space through Hurricane Sandy, and immediately after, people from the site were out in the many areas affected by the storm doing relief work. The site now doubles as an Occupy Sandy info hub, providing information on how to volunteer and donate to the high levels of foot traffic. The main location is at the corner of 61st St. and Broadway, deliciously across from a Chase Bank.

The case against Goldman Sachs is as simple as it is complex. The firm engages in practices we have not yet outlawed, but should. As Matt Taibbi wrote, “They [aren't] murderers or anything; they [have] merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye.” They place their former officials at the highest levels of financial power in positions around the globe, making it easier for them to sway politicians and influence policy. Just this week it was announced that a former investment banker from the firm will head the Bank of England. Mark Carney is the same man who, in 1998 led efforts to advise the Russian government on its economic recovery while his firm, Goldman Sachs, placed financial bets on the failure of the Russian economy

They lobby Congress to bail them out with taxpayer dollars, while having a major stake within the Federal Reserve. Currently, they are funding lobbying to slash and burn all social safety nets, all public resources, and all means in which we care for our communities.They sell complicated derivative products to their clients, products they often gamble against to always guarantee an upper hand. The Managing Directors and Partners of Goldman Sachs contribute millions to the major political parties, guaranteeing them an audience in the White House, no matter who wins. The CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, has become one of a few select spokespeople for the dominant corrupt corporate culture, and that was evident as he took the stand in 2010 in front of a Senate Subcommittee to defend himself from the grilling questions of multiple Senators. Despite the recommendation from Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) to the Department of Justice, for Goldman Sachs to be investigated and prosecuted for financial crimes, the firm remains unexamined and unregulated.

It is imperative for people to speak up and speak out against the pervasive corruption of our global economy at the hands of Goldman Sachs. We seek to expand the concept to cities where Goldman has tentacles/offices. We hope to see OGS London, OGS Boston, OGS Madrid and all the rest. We face a global epidemic of poverty, homelessness, and war, while Goldman Sachs lobbies to pocket $134 billion in resources from the countries in which they work.

Editors Note: If you want to spread occupation to another 1% address, the home of the Koch Brothers is just up the street at 740 Park Avenue.

Find Occupy Goldman Sachs Online:

FB: facebook.com/occupygoldmansachs
Ustream: ustream.tv/channel/occupyuniverse
Twitter: @LordBlankcheck

Support Occupy Goldman Sachs:

https://www.wepay.com/donations/occupy-goldman-sachs-now

The Guardian: Occupy Wall Street: the story behind seven months of protest:

In September last year, anti-corporate activists descended on a small park in lower Manhattan and Occupy Wall Street was born. As protesters ready for a spring resurgence, film-maker Kat Keene Hogue looks back at more than six months of Occupy, a movement that spread from Zuccotti Park to over 100 cities around the world

Inflation Is Outrunning The Earnings of Workers

Consumer prices rose modestly in March amid signs that a spike in gasoline costs was ebbing, but inflation still outpaced workers’ earnings, the Labor Department said Friday.

Geithner Slams Mitt on Women’s Jobs

Statistics are the smoke and fog in the war on women. Sunday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner struck out against Mitt Romney’s repeated claims that women made up more than 92 percent of jobs lost under President Obama’s watch. “It’s just a political moment,” Geithner said on CBS News’ Face the Nation, arguing that there was more job loss among men at the beginning of the recession and that Obama inherited economic decline that began under the previous White House. Romney’s campaign isn’t budging, though. “The President should stop making excuses for his failures,” spokesperson Andrea Saul said in an email to reporters. “He is entitled to his own spin but not his own facts.” Too bad Geithner didn't have any facts to back up his idiotic running off at the mouth.

Via Think Progress: Bank of America Forecloses On Homeowner With Disabled Daughter After Offering Her A Modification:

Rodriguez took out a loan to retrofit her house for her special-needs daughter. After she fell behind on her payments, the Bank of America lowered her monthly obligation, but then sold the house at a foreclosure auction last September. The new owner, a house flipper from El Segundo called West Ridge Rentals, moved to evict the family. [...]

Yet still nearly 7,000 Occupy Wall Street protesters have been arrested to day. Bankers arrested? Zero.

The Gothamist:

There were only around 40 protesters last night who chose to unfurl their sleeping bags and ground pads on the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street in "sleepful protest" last night. But unlike the vibrant, if somewhat insulated atmosphere of Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street's newest encampment is positioned at the nexus of a neighborhood, and residents and passersby seemed eager to engage the demonstrators on the well-lit corner a few yards away from the New York Stock Exchange.

An impeccably dressed, if somewhat intoxicated man began speaking with protesters and eventually sat down, legs crossed, deep in dialogue. His expensive watch peeked out of the cuff of his starched shirt as he made motions with his hands. His wife had left him and he stressed that he had problems, too.

Another man wearing a blue Oxford and carrying his dinner—a frozen chicken dish from Duane Reade—began speaking to a group after he asked one protester, "Tell me again why you're here?" What followed was a conversation that lasted over an hour, ranging from cutting the cost of higher education ("We gotta stop subsidizing four-year colleges,") to the tax rate on capital gains, to solutions to house the homeless.

Also from Think Progress, if Mitt Romney could relate at all to the general population, wouldn't he support paid sick days for workers?

Forty percent of private sector workers and 80 percent of low-wage workers do not have a single, paid sick day to recover from a short-term illness or to provide care for their loved ones. This leads to impossible choices for moms in the sandwich generation who are often working while serving as the main caregiver for an aging parent or school-age children. Missing just three days of work to care for a kid with chicken pox would mean losing the entire month’s healthcare budget for the average two worker, two child family without access to paid sick days.

Paid sick days legislation would enable workers to accrue paid sick leave and provide for provisions to help employers manage. It also makes economic sense as it costs businesses more in lost worker productivity to have sick employees come in, than it would cost to offer paid time off in the first place.

President Obama has come out in favor of such legislation. Mitt Romney, who claims to understand the plight of working people, has been silent.

See how much more effective actual facts are, Mr. Geithner?

Occupy Ninjas, coming to a bank near you soon.

Occupy Detroit is celebrating their 6 month anniversary all weekend:

A general assembly will be held at noon at Eastern Market. The group also will hold an open house from 4-10 p.m. Saturday at its new home at 5900 Michigan Ave. Events will include an ox roast and musical jam session around a bonfire.

From TeacherKen at DailyKos, A Veteran’s Death, the Nation’s Shame:

HERE’S a window into a tragedy within the American military: For every soldier killed on the battlefield this year, about 25 veterans are dying by their own hands.

As TeacherKen notes, there is so much more work that needs to be done before military suicide can be effectively prevented.

Buffet Rule Vote on Monday

On Monday, April 16, the U.S. Senate will debate and vote on the "Buffett Rule," which guarantees that millionaires will no longer pay a lower share of taxes than working people.

Join SEIU and Daily Kos by sending an email (super easy, just click the link) to your senators, telling them to vote in favor of the Buffett Rule. No matter whether your senators are Democrats or Republicans, they all need to know there is big support for making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.

Please join with Daily Kos and SEIU and tell your senators to pass the Buffet Rule, it only takes a few seconds.