The Occupy Wall Street movement may miss the point- after all- we are all a product of consumerism and unless we choose to live in caves again, throw away our mobile and digital devices which connects us to the rest of the world, who is going to buy those pretty summer dresses from your local boutique? Small businesses usually start off in someones garage and if smart, they grow to become a major conglomerate.  Don't punish the messenger. Surely the shop owners can't stay in business without social media sites, bloggers with sponsors etc....Its a mutual relationship between responsibility and understanding.  Our communities need to both reach their targeted audiences and keep relevant to the needs of their customers.  Most of the protesters have an awareness, but their efforts would be better served if they could leverage their demands onto specific bills that can drive traffic back to local small businesses.  As a friend living near Wall street asks " what do you want us to do"? The giants already support non profit organizations, so why not bring them to sharing their money with our strength in numbers.  As an entrepreneur in both fashion / and media, my tasks have always included delivering a message that needed to be told with brands that were either new or that could potentially help my clients. I believe we can use the big businesses for building our own economy and start building strong cases, instead of targeting streets filled with tourists.  I mean seriously, have you seen what they are wearing?  I know they don't care about what I have to say, but come on? Seriously, some of them could use a shower and style make overs.