Occupy Houston

The Chronicle's Loren Steffy visited the Occupy Houston protest last week and wrote about a thoughtful capitalist he met among the protesters. Here's some:

"They wonder why if they go to college, get degrees and shoulder thousands of dollars in debt, they still find themselves in the unemployment line.

"They wonder why CEO salaries continue to rise, regardless of corporate performance, while median household incomes fall.

"In other words, they wonder why, if they do their part, the system no longer works the way it was supposed to.

"They wonder why investment banks accept billions in taxpayer-funded welfare to stay in business, then show their gratitude with higher debit cards fees and other abusive practices. They wonder how the big banks can whine about increased regulation as if almost destroying the global economy was akin to a botched play in backyard football and they deserve a do-over.

"They wonder how Wall Street, the supposed engine of capitalism, has become an institution that exists with implicit government support. It privatizes its profits, but when it stumbles, it expects the public to cover its losses.

"The point, as Keeble sees it, isn't to subvert capitalism, but to save it from those who have tried to pervert it.

"The system is broken, and no one in Washington has shown much interest in fixing it. They retread the same tired arguments that either caused the problem or failed to solve it.

"We don't need to end capitalism, we need to root out the influences that have corrupted it.

"If the government won't hold the architects of the financial crisis to account, then "this needs to be addressed in the streets," Keeble said.

"We have to save capital- ism from the crony capital-ists, as he calls them.

"On the back of sign, Keeble called for revamping the tax code by ending loopholes and "tax-break largesse," reforming Wall Street regulations and campaign finance, simplifying corporate compliance and toughing enforcement of existing rules.

"That doesn't sound like a radical manifesto. It sounds like a good place to start."