All of these themes reflect the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. So while it hasn't changed national politics yet, the movement could influence the 2012 presidential election.
"The major impact of [Occupy Wall Street] has been on the center of gravity of the public conversation in the U.S. It has expanded the conversation and changed its center of gravity," said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington political think tank. "The content of that speech was influenced by the conversation that Occupy Wall Street helped spark."
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The economy. The economic impact of the movement is difficult to gauge. At this point, it's almost impossible to know how camps have affected local businesses, or how much protests at ports have affected revenue from trade.
However, one cost associated with Occupy Wall Street that is readily available is the cost incurred by police as they patrolled the movement, originally in a watchdog status, and eventually as they cleared protestors from parks throughout the country.
According to the Associated Press, as of November 24, taxpayers have paid at least $13 million in police overtime and other municipal services. This includes $7 million in New York, and $2.4 million in Oakland, which faces a budget gap of $58 million this year.
However, in New York, $7 million is a drop in a bucket of the city's $4.5 billion police budget.



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