I was in New York this past week attending the mid-year Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) conference at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism building (which happens to be next door to Parson’s School of Design and the gorgeous New York Times building).

A big topic of conversation at the conference was the Occupy Wall Street movement and how the anger at the banking world seems to be spreading all over the world. This past weekend, protest movements sprang up around the world, much to the consternation of some in the political world:

  • 2,000 people protested in Amsterdam
  • 30,000 in Rome protested, lighting cars on fire and breaking bank windows
  • 7,000 people marched in Brussels, Belgium, near the Dexia Bank building
  • 3,000 gathered in Denmark for an Occupy Denmark rally
  • Protesters marched in Berlin and Frankfurt. The organizers of the rally, United for Global Change, told CNN that 951 cities in 82 countries would take part
  • WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange led protests on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral, in London
  • Protests were also held in Stockholm, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Tokyo and Zurich

“We are the 99 percent” seems to be the rallying cry at the moment. That’s a reference to the 1 percent of the population that controls the vast majority of wealth.

I said this morning on my radio show that I’m not quite sure where this will all wind up, but with no end in sight to the recession, the slow-burning anger that is fueling these spontaneous, social-networked rallies has the potential to erupt into something quite meaningful.

Radio Show Notes

We had a number of callers talking about their 401(k)s and required minimum distributions. Someone called in to say that Bankrate.com’s calculator is easy to use. I checked it out and it is easy to use. Here’s a link to their IRA Required Minimum Distribution calculator.

I also talked about the Equifax Finance Blog. Check out my story on Money Management: Money Mistakes Celebrities Make. I’m not quite sure why we ascribe money management acumen to folks just because they’re celebrities and they make a lot of money, but we do. Here are some money mistakes you’ll want to avoid making, I think.

And don’t forget my Home Equity Blog at CBS MoneyWatch.com. This week on the blog, I wrote about what you can rent for $20,000 per month, and a little post about Heath Ledger’s Tree House that’s up for sale. Tomorrow, I’m  posting about a new Coldwell Banker survey of older and younger baby boomers and their attitudes about real estate, so be sure to check it out.

Finally, I talked about how I’m going to be publishing a book for a client – a first novel. The book is called Oxford Messed Up and you should check out the gorgeous website we built for the author, Andrea Kayne Kaufman. Sign up for my free weekly newsletter and you’ll be among the first to know when the book is going on sale.

(If you want to know more about the content and communications strategy company we’ve built, Think Glink Publishing, please check out our website.)

Have a great week!