To destroy an enemy, make them a friend or pay them off

In December, Occupy protestor Tracey Prostert picketed against an unjust economy. She held a Ph.D. in pharmacology, yet she was unemployed. Her sign echoed this sad fact.

Ironically, one day in Zucotti Park, a Wall Street insider happened to pass her and offered her a job analyzing pharmaceutical markets. Overnight, Prostert went from protesting Wall Street to working on it, and that meant one less voice behind the Occupy movement.

Could it be that easy? Could the entire movement be bought out?

What was originally considered a collective mass of whiny hippies ended up going global. Quickly.

Just a few months ago, the Occupiers were labeled domestic terrorists, and now, they are part of the program. It's almost February and they are still out there, which leaves one last tactic to shut them up without completely defecating on the Constitution: Back them up, then buy them out.

The past few months showed a number of 1 percenters backing the Occupy movement. Billionaires George Soros, Warren Buffet and even Bill Gates voiced their support. Politicians of all colors nodded to Occupy, from Democrat Nancy Pelosi to Republican Ron Paul.

From the sidelines, a number of A-list celebrities cheered on the Occupiers. The richest rapper in the world, Jay-Z, sold out his "Occupy All Streets" T-shirts almost as soon as they went on sale.

Jay-Z wasn't the only entrepreneur who attempted to cash in on the movement. In October, a New York couple filed to copyright "Occupy Wall Street" in order to monopolize Occupy-themed novelties. Around the same time, an investment firm tried the same.

However, Occupy organizations were first to file a copyright of the name – so only protestors could monopolize Occupy-themed novelties.

In fact, Occupying is cool now. Depending on the poll, anywhere from half to two-thirds of Americans support the Occupiers. Roughly a third of our millionaires also support the movement. Hollywood plans to make big-budget films inspired by Occupy, and big-name actors want on-board for the Occupy craze.

MTV produced a reality show about the protests. Time Magazine named "The Protestor" as Person of the Year, and a committee of linguists declared that the word "occupy" ruled 2011.

Last week, the Internet's biggest names – Google, Amazon, Facebook, Wikipedia, Reddit, Twitter, Craigslist and Yahoo! – staged an online protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) (only the non-profits actually took down their sites).

The hacker group Anonymous, as well as Occupiers, voiced support for the blackout. In fact, the Wall Street Journal described Occupy as the "offline analog" of the blackout. The grassroots, populist Occupy movement is coordinating with the most powerful internet companies to prevent federal censorship.

What we are seeing is one sector of corporate America – net businesses – defying the lobbies of another corporate sector – the entertainment industries. In other words, corporations are protesting against legislation pushed by other corporations, with heavy support from the so-called anti-corporate Occupy.

The "goalless" movement apparently reached some of its goals. To name one, it finally opened up a dialogue between the poorest Americans and the wealthiest.

Mic-checking revealed that our most-polished politicians choke when their speeches are interrupted by the people's voices. With the blackout, Occupy rubbed off on the heaviest hitters of the web to stage the online equivalent of a strike.

Alliances between Occupy and big business may end up leading to the movement's downfall, especially if protest organizers become bed-buddies with the very powers they claim to criticize.

What seems more likely, given the persistence of the movement and the gravity of the problems it addresses, is that Occupy will not go away any time soon.

The financial elite, which comfortably molded public opinion for decades, will attempt to buy-out and assimilate the movement into consumer culture – since slander, libel and police brutality failed to quench the protests.

Does every American ultimately have a price tag? I guess we'll find out in 2012.