Occupy Wall Street, 99% | featured news

Occupy encampments have closed, but some argue the movement has made a lasting mark... But as the last of its urban encampments close and interest wanes in a movement without an organizational hierarchy or an action agenda, it's unclear whether Occupy's first birthday will be its last.

Technically, the economy has been in recovery for two years. But it turns out the rich have been doing most of the recovering. In 2010 -- the first full year since the end of the Great Recession -- virtually all of the income growth in America took place among the country's very wealthiest people, says an economist at the University of California, Berkeley. The top 1 percent of earners took in a full 93 percent of all the income gains that year, leaving the other 7 percent of gains to be sprinkled among the vast majority of society.

Oakland prepared Wednesday to again become the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street movement as local organizers aided by labor unions and advocacy groups finalized plans for a broad-based call to action that was expected to include marches, pickets outside banks, school shutdowns and an attempt to close the nation's fifth-busiest port.

Many of those posting statements and photos on the site in response to the Occupy Wall Street protests are the children of well-off parents. While members of the so-called 99% take part in Occupy Wall Street protests, a new website lets some of the wealthy 1% declare their support for the movement.

Police overnight cleared out protesters in Nashville, Tenn., and San Diego, Calif., as other Occupy encampments came under growing pressure from authorities to abandon sites in parks and plazas.