In the eye of the storm New York City workers condemn Wall Street bailout

Some of the strongest reactions have been seen in New York City, the home of Wall Street. This is the most unequal city in the country, where millions of working people live cheek-by-jowl with the handful of billionaires and multimillionaires who have been the principal beneficiaries of the fraud and parasitism that dominate the financial industry.

There are 64 billionaires in New York City, who together boast a combined net worth of $344 billionmore than four times the amount held by billionaires a decade ago. In the same city, 1.5 million people live below the federal poverty line, somehow eking out a living on $16,600 or less a yearfor a family of three.

Nearly 70 percent of New York City public school children are classified as poor. Diabetes rates in the city have doubled in the last 10 years.

The manic accumulation of personal wealth on Wall Street has fed a housing bubble in New York that has driven the prices of apartments in Manhattan into the stratosphere. A realtor advertises in the New York Times for a building on Fifth Ave. boasting a choice of gracious living spaces, the finest finishes, sweeping views and unrivaled amenities. The price tag: $10.5 million to over $47 million.

Meanwhile, at least 34,000 people go to sleep each night in the citys homeless shelters. The ragged ranks of the citys homeless families have risen 15 percent over the past two years.

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