Kudos to the people who started OWS and to all the people who participated in the movement. I wish I had my own tent in the middle of Zuccotti park.
I'm not sure about the impact of the movement on Wall Street but the banks definitely got the message. They are very scared and are changing their ways of doing business. The following might be a small example but I'm sure others might have experienced the same thing in a bigger way.
Lately, I have noticed a big change in the way the tellers are greeting me when I enter the bank. They are taking more time to know about me and became more polite. Before OWS they wouldn't even look at me and go about their business without paying attention.
Couple of weeks back I got a call from Gallop to conduct a survey about my recent visit to the bank. At the end of the survey, the caller gave me option of receiving a call from a bank executive to provide the feedback directly. I was waiting for this for a long time and jumped on the opportunity
As requested, I got a call from the executive after couple of days. After initial introduction, I told him everything that is currently wrong with the big banks. I emphasized that they have to think about the small customers as well and not try to steal their hard earned money. He wanted to go over my account in order to provide me more services but I told him that I moved all my money to a local credit union and was about to close my account.
He promised me that he would do everything he could to change some of the policies of the bank. I got a feeling that he was genuinely feeling bad and would definitely follow through on his promises.
Please ignore all the naysayers out there. OWS was a huge success and is continuing to shape up the current political conversation.