Video- US govt. ignoring citizens’ demands

Despite brutal police crackdown on anti-capitalism protests across the US, protesters in New York City plan to hold a major new demonstration Thursday in the major American financial hub.

Press TV has interviewed Sherwood Ross, a prominent American blogger from Miami, to further explore the issue.

Below is the text of the interview:

Press TV: Sherwood Ross, this is indeed one of the problems that from US officials, from the president down, the American people are seeing inconsistencies.

Let’s dig in a little bit further here. US president Barack Obama is on a tour of the United States; one of the cities he visited was Los Vegas in which he was talking about Los Vegas having the highest foreclosure rate, talking about this amendment that is being reformed, I should say, which gives some relief, as he stated, for homeowners.

But when you look to the fine lines, these are only applicable through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers, of which the bottom line is not going to be much relief and it has been criticized for being too narrow.

Why is it that time and again the US president and officials seem to think the American people are not informed and then they exercise this?

Is this how he wants to turn the tide of these protests with the upcoming 2012 [presidential] elections?

Ross: Well, I’m not sure that president Obama really cares about the American people and I feel there’s a basic disconnect between the American people and their government, their elected officials, and also what is not being said here is that there is a disconnect between the American people and their employers. This situation has been festering for twenty years.

You’ve had productivity in an all time high level. You have corporate profits last year at an all time high level and the American worker is not sharing in that prosperity. He or she is not being given a living wage. Wages have stagnated in America for 20 years.

Why is it so surprising that people are down on the banks? They are also down on their government because the government makes wars and the American public wants peace.

They are unhappy with their employers because there is no corporate loyalty. People who have worked for companies for many years have been laid off as though they are unimportant ciphers.

People don’t feel they have a share in their work. They don’t feel they have a share in their jobs, in their corporations or in their government. These protests don’t surprise me one bit and I am impressed by the nonviolent approach of those who are protesting.

Press TV: Sherwood Ross, I’d like to pick up on what James Fetzer [another guest on the show] said there about the media and that Ron Paul, especially that poll on Fox News that he mentioned with Ron Paul being in the lead.

Let’s put it this way, what would happen if the 2012 elections come around and these protests are still going on?

What kind of voter turnout will there be? Who will people vote for if the ones that are running for it are not representing the Americans?

Ross: Well, that is a formidable problem, but first to deal with your comments about Fox News. Fox News is not a news organization; it needs to be understood as an arm of the Republican Party and the right-wing establishment in America.

There is no way that Fox News is objective; there is no way that Fox News is going to report what’s really happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq and in the Middle East.

They are not telling the American people what’s going on and they have no intention of doing so. So we need to be clear that Fox News is not a news gathering agency like NBC or CBS, that’s the first thing.

And the second thing is that the people who are in the streets now protesting need to organize themselves for Election Day.

If the thousands of people who are out on the streets now against the banks and against runaway crony capitalism would take some time to organize in their communities, we will have a massive political challenge to both political parties next year.