Bachmann to Protesters: Leave Wall Street Alone

Occupy Wall Street protesters should be directing their anger at lawmakers instead of against the "free market," Michele Bachmann said during a town hall meeting in Iowa yesterday. "Protesters need to wake up and stop blaming the free market, stop blaming capitalism, stop blaming job creators for the failures created by selfish politicians," she said. "The problem is politicians who wink at their political donors, and through the force of law put their competitors out of business."

The "problem is government doing what both the constitution and decent morality prohibit, that is cronyism capitalism, or forcefully taking your money for the purpose of paying off a politician’s political friends," she said, warning that cronyism could turn the US into a "banana republic," ABC reports. Bachmann—whose former campaigner manager recently accused her of being out of ideas—outlined an economic proposal in which all Americans would pay federal income tax. "They need to be invested in the country," she said. "Even if they can only afford $10, they need to pay something." (More Michele Bachmann 2012 stories.)