US Bank president Richard Davis must figure that having wealth on the order of Ozymandias gives him a similar imagined immunity from the consequences of his own words and actions. Not only does he not acknowledge that he and his buds might have done anything wrong (much less the throngs gathered outside courtesy of OccupyMN to protest him and his buds), he chides the nervous Nellies among them who might still have concerns over what’s been going on.

One of the memes the 1% crowd has been pushing, both locally and nationally, has been The Cost To The Taxpayer of the protests — usually in the form of utterly unnecessary (and local-economy-hurting) barricades, police presence, and surveillance of groups of largely self-disciplined and peaceful protesters — costs that one almost never sees tallied in discussions of, say, policing of sporting events such as the Minnesota Lynx’ win of the WNBA championship.

But it’s the price of foreclosures and bank bailouts that’s really costing the taxpayer.

The seven OccupyMN protesters arrested Thursday are: Peter Leeman, Devin Wynn, Ben Egerman, Katrina Plotz, Merritt Benton, Misty Rowan and Jason St. John. If one of these names, that of Ben Egerman, might sound familiar to you, it’s because the last time he was in the news, it was for glittering Karl Rove when Rove came to the Twin Cities for a book signing two weeks ago

There is a difference of opinion among the civic leaders of Hennepin County when it comes to OccupyMN. R.T. Rybak, the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, likes it; Rich Stanek, the Republican Sheriff of Hennepin County, does not.

So the fact that the protesters are camped at Government Plaza, in front of the Hennepin County Government Center, means that they are at the questionable mercy of Sheriff Stanek — and a little over an hour ago, Hennepin County officers moved in and took away the Occupiers’ tents.

Minnesota’s 99%, OccupyMN, came to start the occupation of the Hennepin County Government Plaza, now also known as The People’s Plaza, in downtown Minneapolis. They’re going to stay there for at least the next three months — yes, deep into the famed Minnesota winter. (Hey, if the Madison folks could camp outside without tents in mid-winter, we can too. Quality sleeping bags are a must.) You can watch the occupation live here and see what’s going on at any given moment.