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1 of 18. An Occupy Wall Street protester marches up Broadway in New York City, October 5, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Mike SegarBy Michelle NicholsNEW YORK | Thu Oct 6, 2011 6:12pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Protests that began in New York against economic inequality spread across America on Thursday as the growing movement found unlikely support from a top official of one of its targets -- the Federal Reserve.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was sparking rallies in Austin, Texas; Tampa, Florida; Washington; Trenton and Jersey City, New Jersey; Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
The protesters gained some support from Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, who told a business group in Fort Worth, Texas, "I am somewhat sympathetic -- that will shock you.
The Fed played a key role in one of the protest targets, the 2008 Wall Street bailout that critics say let banks enjoy huge profits while average Americans suffered high unemployment and job insecurity.
"We have too many people out of work," Fisher said. "We have a very uneven distribution of income. We have too many people out of work for too long. We have a very frustrated people, and I can understand their frustration."
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden also acknowledged the frustration and anger of the protesters on Thursday.
"People are frustrated and, you know, the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works," Obama said at a news conference in Washington.
Biden, speaking at the Washington Ideas Forum, likened the protest movement to the Tea Party, which sprang to life in 2009 after Obama's election and has become a powerful conservative grass-roots force helping elect dozens of Republicans to office.
"The American people do not think the system is fair," Biden said.
'FED UP'
With support from unions boosting the protesters' ranks, organizers predicted the momentum would build across the country.
"This is the beginning," said John Preston in Philadelphia, business manager for Teamsters Local 929. "Teamsters will support the movement city to city."
Up to 1,000 people gathered to protest in Philadelphia, and hundreds turned out in Washington and Houston. Rallies in Chicago, San Antonio and Austin attracted dozens of people.
In Philadelphia, protesters chanted and waved placards reading: "I did not think 'By the People, For the People' meant 1 percent," a reference to their argument the country's top few have too much wealth and political power.
Tim Lucas, 49, vice president of a software company who was protesting in Austin, said: "I'm fed up with the government, I'm fed up with the bailouts. If I fail at my job, I don't get a bonus -- I get fired."
In Los Angeles, a couple hundred protesters squeezed into the lobby of a Bank of America building.
About 5,000 people marched on New York's financial district on Wednesday, the biggest rally so far, swelled by nurses, transit workers and other union members. Dozens of people were arrested and police used pepper spray on some protesters.
On Thursday, a few hundred protesters milled about a park near Wall Street where they have set up camp, but there were no apparent plans for another march.
The head of General Electric Co finance arm, Michael Neal, said he was sympathetic to the cause.
"People are really angry, and I get it. If I were unemployed now, I'd be really angry too," Neal told Reuters during an interview in Columbus, Ohio, after a GE event.
In Washington, protesters carried signs that read: "Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed" and "Stop the War on Workers."
"I believe the American dream is truly in jeopardy," said protester Darrell Bouldin, 25, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. "There are so many people like me in Tennessee who are fed up with the Wall Street gangsters."
About 200 people gathered in Houston, while in San Antonio, about 50 people gathered at the city's Confederate War Veterans Monument, chanting, "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
(Additional reporting by Corrie MacLaggan in Austin, Bruce Olson in St. Louis, Jim Forsyth in San Antonio, Ian Simpson in Washington, Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Chris Baltimore in Houston; Writing by Michelle Nichols and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Jerry Norton, Ellen Wulfhorst and Peter Cooney)
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