"A call to recognize the crimes of High Finance"

David Friedrichs, my criminal justice / sociology colleague from the end of the hall, has some commentary at MarketWatch in which he argues that Occupy Wall Street does have a clear message and that it is a "A call to recognize the crimes of High Finance".

What are the Occupy Wall Street protesters seeking? Critics of this endeavor claim that there is a lack of a clear focus, agenda and strong leadership. But the overall message of the protesters is crystal clear and hugely important: we all need to become broadly conscious of what is wrong with our present political economy, and we have to promote the political will needed to transform it in fundamental ways.

There's some good things that I agree with in David's commentary such as we should take white collar crime more seriously. On the other hand, I'm not entirely convinced that OWS has a single, clear message (I don't have a problem with that) or that

The top priority of Wall Street should instead be to foster economic development, high levels of employment across the economy, and a fair and equitable distribution of the commonly produced gross national product for the benefit of the 99%.

It might be nice, but that sound more like the goals of government than Wall Street. Any way, it's worth a look. David is one of the country's foremost experts on white collar crime.