The Occupy Wall Street movement, like the Tea Party, is a sign of a broader "anxiety" among middle-class Americans, Jon Corzine, ex-Goldman Sachs chief executive and Governor of New Jersey, told CNBC Tuesday.
Gennine Kelly for CNBC.com
Wall Street Protests
Corzine, who is now chief executive and chairman of MF Global after losing his gubernatorial seat to Chris Christie, said: "There's a lot of anxiety in families across the country. That's what's going on in Occupy Wall Street.
"It happens to have a more left-wing point of view but it's the same as the Tea Party in 2009. People are not satisfied that government is resolving the problems that matter in their lives."
"The less effective we are, the more protests you will see, and now you can organize these things more effectively on social networking sites that's exactly what will happen," he added.
The movement, which has been camped out at lower Manhattan for weeks, will come to London this weekend with a planned Occupy the London Stock Exchange event. Thousands of protestors are expected to protest against perceived unfairnesses in the way banks have been treated during the financial crisis.
A new "super committee" in the US, appointed in July, is charged with finding deficit savings of at least $1.2 trillion by November 23.
Corzine believes that the committee has one last chance at brokering a "grand bargain" between Democrats and Republicans, who shot down President Obama's plans for deficit reductions in July.
"The supercommittee has the mandate to do something…in that framework, there is the potential for people to one last time get a grand bargain," the Obama supporter said.
"I don't think that's the likely outcome, but people shouldn't write this off. The rational thing is to have that happen, with some increase in revenues through tax reform, and some entitlements reform."
Corzine, one of the key players when Goldman Sachs went public in 1999, said that the euro zone debt crisis was still the most important factor driving the markets at the moment.
"Europe is the key underlying element that's determining directions of the market and the psychology of voters in the marketplace," he said.
"If there isn't a credible plan then I think you have to work out what contagion is possible and then act accordingly. There's enormous liquidity in the system and that's committed to risk assets. I think we’re going to see more of that over the next year or so because there are fits and starts."
He believes that early market falls in Europe Tuesday were due to traders "evening out positions" after Monday's rallies following German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's weekend statement.
"I happen to be the non-cynical type who believes that the adjustment process is working its way through," he added.
"Democracy is a messy process. You don't get everything in exactly the process and terms that the market wants."
