Bank of England director: Occupy was right

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Occupy was rightThe protesters who occupied Wall Street and parts of London and other cities were morally and intellectually right, a senior Bank of England official said.

"Some have suggested ... that Occupy's voice has been loud but vague -- long on problems, short on solutions," Andrew Haldane, a member of the central bank's Financial Policy Committee, told an event called "Socially Useful Banking," organized by Occupy Economics, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, in London Monday night.

"Others have argued that the fault lines in the global financial system, which chasmed during the crisis, are essentially unaltered -- that reform has failed," he said.

"I wish to argue that both are wrong -- that Occupy's voice has been both loud and persuasive and that policymakers have listened and are acting in ways which will close those fault lines," said Haldane, the bank's executive director of financial stability.

"In fact, I want to argue that we are in the early stages of a reformation of finance, a reformation which Occupy has helped stir," he said.

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