On the surface, many people refuse to accept any similarity between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street (O.W.S.) movements, because while one group is labeled as a right-wing group, the other is considered left-wing politically. However, the political and economic climate that first precipitated individuals aligning with the Tea Party are, in many ways, quite similar to the Occupy Wall Street group’s popularity.

1. Both groups arose because of widespread disappointment with political, social and economic conditions in this country. The Tea Party brought various disillusioned political factions together because of the perception of ever escalating, high taxes, and the high unemployment rates, combined with the huge federal deficits and economic malaise. This movement unified sometimes diverse groups, and united them in their opposition to high government spending, huge deficits, and high taxes. The Occupy Wall Street movement arose a few years later, but the major impetus behind the movement appears to also be financial/ economic in nature. The emphasis of the anger and outrage for this group, however, is their perception of the tax code favoring one economic strata (the wealthy) over everyone else. They refer to the advantage that they claim the upper one per cent financially of the population receives in the tax code over the remaining ninety- nine per cent. The Occupy Wall Street unifying chant during their marches is generally, “I am the 99%.”

2. Would either of these groups have gained much momentum if the economy was performing and functioning better? There has always been some amount of Tea Party type of philosophy by many that describe themselves as economic conservatives. Many people have complained for years that the government is too big, and we must reduce what government is involved with. Many have complained that government gets involved in many aspects of our personal lives, and that, especially the Federal Government gets too involved in personal social issues, as well as what they consider state’s rights issues. President Ronald Reagan ran in the 1980′s on a platform of reducing and reforming the size of the government.

The Occupy Wall Street group, likewise, has many similarities with protest groups of the past. People of my generation recall the anti- Vietnam war protests of the 1960′s to early 1970′s, and we remember the famous line from the movie “Network” where the star chanted, “I’m sick and tired, and I’m not going to take it any more,” in reference to corporate and governmental policy. At a time when there has been so much publicity about the Madoff greed, and oil companies have recently announced huge increases in profits while the unemployment rate, the federal deficit, and the overall economy is suffering, is there really any question why a group opposing corporate greed might gain traction?

The reality is that protest movements gain momentum when people are upset about something. What is unique today, however, is that both ends of the political spectrum are apparently disillusioned simultaneously.

Richard Brody has over 30 years consultative sales, marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience. He has trained sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars, appeared as a company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs, and regularly blogs on real estate, politics, economics, management, leadership, negotiations, conferences and conventions, etc. Richard has negotiated, arranged and/ or organized hundreds of conferences and conventions. Richard is a Senior Consultant with RGB Consultation Services, an Ecobroker, a Licensed Buyers Agent (LBA) and Licensed Salesperson in NYS, in real estate.

Richard Brody has owned businesses, been a Chief Operating Officer, a Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of Development, as well as a consultant. Richard has a Consulting Website ( http://tinyurl.com/rgbcons ); a blog ( http://tinyurl.com/rgbstake ); and can be followed on Twitter.