From BusinessInsider: In his morning note, UBS floor guy Art Cashin takes the pulse of the moment, with protests growing, and Obama talking about taxing millionaires more, and senses a serious escalation in class warfare.
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Lessons Unlearned In The Arab Spring - In the spring of 2011, the town squares of the Middle East came alive with millions of young people armed, not with the traditional Molotov cocktail, but with Twitter and Facebook and such.
Against a backdrop of broad unemployment, food shortages, rising fuel prices and government indifference, they had simply had enough. Like a group of twenty-something Howard Beales of the 21st Century, they wanted to tell the world they were “mad as hell and were not gonna take it anymore”. But, it being the 21st Century, they didn’t do it by shouting out an open window. They snapped on a hand-held device and instantly told hundreds and thousands of friends.
The results were electrifying in both the communicative and sociological senses. The leadership of the countries involved were stunned. Western observers were stunned. Most of the demonstrators were also stunned by the instantaneous and massive results of their efforts.
Then second thoughts began to sink in. Fear of unexpected consequences began to grow quickly. Was this likeoverthrowing the Shah a dozen times? The answer to that question is still playing out and remains almost as unclear today as it was when the town squares were full…
Find out more at http://www.businessinsider.com/art-cashin-on-obama-arab-spring-2011-10
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