Seattle Occupy group drops $5,000 from hotel to protest money in politics

 Adam Gabbatt  
Guardian.co.uk
Occupy protesters in Seattle marked the Fourth of July by throwing $5,000 out of a hotel window in a protest against the influence of money in politics. MicCheckWallStreet, an offshoot of the Occupy movement, staged the demonstration at 5pm.

The group's website declared that it is "time we declared independence from Citizens United" – citing the supreme court case which effectively ruled that corporations can make political contributions. A video posted to YouTube shows two people tossing the cash – which MicCheckWallStreet said was in $1 and $5 bills – out of a window above downtown Seattle. The group had signalled its intentions on its website, asking for donations to a wepay.com account.

To save money, a 5th of Americans won't celebrate Independence Day

A fifth of Americans 21% said they don't plan to celebrate Independence Day and those who are plan to spend less than last year, according to a survey released Sunday of a little more than 1,000 people by Visa.

That's up from the 18% who said they weren't joining in July 4 festivities last year. Those who plan to celebrate are spending an average of $191 on everything from travel to food to fireworks, down from $216 last year, according to a survey released Sunday by Visa.

On the other hand, nearly half of those celebrating will watch or light fireworks, according to a monthly consumer survey by the National Retail Federation. And close to 68% of consumers said they'll host or attend a barbecue, the most in the nine-year history of the NRF survey. Read more >>