Occupy Wall Street has influenced other protest movements. There’s the Occupy Sesame Street movement in which those camping out are insisting on equal rights for animated characters and Occupy Elm Street in which Freddie Krueger and other  protesters demand an end to meaningless horror movie sequels. Read more...

An RSM McGladrey study that asked how companies are trying to hold the line on costs found only a slight increase in those passing costs on to employees, rising from 61 percent of those surveyed for 2008 to 62 percent for 2009. Only 2 percent of respondents said their companies did not offer any health plan. Those with annual revenue of less than $100 million are shifting to self insurance while those with greater revenue are moving slightly to fully insured plans. The biggest change was the 4-percentage point drop in companies providing wellness programs. Again, the larger companies were more likely to have such offerings.  The findings were part of the firm's fourth annual Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution National Survey. The online survey drew responses from 923 executives.