Occupy Wall Street has changed the national conversation:

A quick search of the news--including print articles, web stories and broadcast transcripts--via Nexis reveals a significant rise in the use of the term “income inequality,” from less than 91 instances in the week before the occupation started to almost 500 instances last week.

This chart, from Ben Smith , tracks the number of times "income equality" appeared in the traditional media since the start of September:

You can't change minds without first changing the topic. Instead of only talking about spending cuts and the deficit, now the plight of the 99 percent is part of the discussion.