The 99%

[altarflame]

Or, "One American Crying Out in Cyberspace The Wilderness".

Someone on my friends' page has shared that they resent being lumped in with "the 99%", because they don't feel that their personal financial situation or that of their family meshes with the picture that people are painting of what it means to be in the 99% (which they are) - at all. And, they don't agree with the attitude or actions people are taking as representatives of that 99%. Honestly? I agree. Completely. We are not even close to the upper crust of the 99% (making under $75,000 per year in a household of 8), and YET....

Grant lost his job in January - it sucked - but he had another one (in his industry and not minimum wage) within 3 weeks of looking. A few months later, he resigned from that job because he had a much better offer land in his lap. I'm going to college for free on the government. Elise is in a wonderful preschool for free because Florida pays for that for all 4 year olds. My four older kids are receiving weekly music lessons with loaned instruments for free through a program funded by The Children's Trust, and we go to those lessons on a free trolley system that my city's received grants for. We're going to a huge free costume-contest Halloween symphony for the second time in a row, on Sunday, also put on by The Children's Trust. I went to a freakin' yard sale a couple of weekends ago and got us a like-new King sized mattress, a bunch of pillar candles, a plant stand for the library, baskets for my closet shelves, and an adjustable top of the line music stand for the kids - ALL for $60. This was the same week Grant and I enjoyed a resort stay that was paid by his company O_O We have health insurance and life insurance and car and homeowner's insurance and are able to provide great birthday parties to our kids and carry fancy smart phones around.

I could quantify all this very differently. I could say, "Grant was out of work for 3 weeks in January and we had to sell our second car to survive, and then he was underemployed for months before he found a job that pays well enough - but it's SO FAR AWAY that he's driving two hours each way now, and we're digging out of a pit of being behind on our bills! We laid on a horribly fucked up mattress that contributed to back pain for over a year because we could never afford a nice new one! We have to rely on my rusty bicycle and a trolley that rides through the worst ghettos, and we're horribly underinsured!"

I could write that on a sign, ignoring all I said before it, get righteous, and say "I am the 99%!" Because it's also all true! But...it's not the whole truth.

I feel like part of what the protesters are missing, is that being in the "bottom 99%" of AMERICAN CITIZENS still puts you in a pretty freaking high percentile privilege rank as a human being. Average out the BILLIONS of starving Africans; media-censored, factory working and child-rationed Chinese; and homeless, poverty stricken Indian populations and then tell me what percent you fall under, here on this planet we all call home. This is to speak nothing of the crime riddled 3rd world country just south of us, where thousands of people are trying desperately to get in here and have it better every week, or the tsunami-ravaged Japanese that we've already forgotten are suffering... We can't ALL be the very richest of the rich, you know? Modern first world nations are so wildly, decadently spoiled that there is just no objectivity whatsoever - how did we get to a point where everyone feels it's an inalienable right to be guaranteed wild, immediate prosperity by their degree or to have stockpiled university tuition and unlimited orthodontics available for all their kids? And that they should be able to block traffic and sleep outside until somebody finally yells "Uncle!" and gives them everything they think they deserve?

Sometimes I think the problem is not that "we" (the 99%) are being denied so many wonderful things (on demand completely free high quality healthcare; rigorous yet fun free public education for all kids in every area, that parents don't have to do anything to facilitate; significant amounts of very enjoyable leisure time for every person) - the problem is that we - the American people - have bought into this totally bogus idea that Hollywood and advertisers are selling, that those things are even possible for whole societies to enjoy. Moreover - they tell us other people are already enjoying them. YOU SHOULD, TOO. If you aren't, something is WRONG and you shouldn't stand for it!

If it is possible - and I am not an economist here, obviously - for whole societies to reach those utopian levels of fair distribution and universal swag, well, it's NEVER been done before in all of history and so it's gonna take awhile to iron out the kinks as we figure out how to make it happen...we're all just fallible mortals here each with a different set of goals in mind, gradually staggering this species forward. When I read or watch anything historical I'm overwhelmed by how there has always been a LESS than 1% (royalty, nobility, whatever) who controlled everything - a castle for 5 surrounded by hundreds of shacks where all the people who work in the castle live. It's unprecedented and amazing that we've reached a point where everyone is entitled to sit around and have a break pretty regularly and even poor people expect to get to retire. How is anyone surprised that there is an elite class that's richer than everybody else, and where are they getting the idea that they deserve to take some of those elite individuals' stuff for themselves just to "be fair"?

Don't get me wrong. There are shady dealings and misguided uses of funds in our governnment that need to be addressed (bailouts, big banks, corporations running the govt, big pharma controlling things like birth practices and medical marijuana staying illegal) and doing things to make a difference in areas you care about is ALWAYS a good thing....

But how does camping out in parks and tweeting about it make a difference?

I want to see a PERCENTAGE of how many of these "Occupy" people bother to VOTE in their local, state and presidential elections, or bother to participate in sending letters to congressmen or writing editorials for newspapers or even putting their money where their mouths are - in small banks or local credit unions, not in unethical companies, etc. Because when enough people do them...those things matter. And, in the spirit of Capitalism (which I do think I am still a fan of overall), they're examples of earning something, rather than this totally entitled hoohaw where people believe they can rush home to edit and upload more protest video every few hours before heading back to the "protest", where city officials are cleaning up their trash, local businesses are allowing them to use their restrooms, and the ultimate martyrdom comes if you get arrested and held in a clean jail that provides regular meals and a free attorney, for a few hours - maybe even a WHOLE NIGHT with a bed and air conditioning before you go back to the tent with the food trucks and news vans O_o I mean...this is not hardcore! I find it embarrassing when people try to draw comparisons with the protests in Tel Aviv - Israelis are coming out in radically stronger numbers with much more unified, specific goals, and they are putting aside religious and political bickering to achieve them. They're obviously responding en masse and in unison to much more serious oppression. I understand how inspiring and beautiful this is, but it's not the same thing that's happening in Boston, or California.

That would be pretty amazing. Maybe it's really the dream some people in this country have in mind. I'm sorry if sincere protesters are reading this and hurt by anything I have to say; as always, I am ready to listen to comments.

Here in my corner of the world, though, I've asked multiple participating individuals who are doing "Occupy (insert Florida city)" and they can't even give me a clear view of what they hope to accomplish - they say things like "you can read about it online" and "this country started after a snowball effect from people protesting in a similar way in England" . These are EXTREMELY privileged people who don't normally express much sympathy for, say, single moms, or those with menial jobs. The best guess I can venture based on their posting is that they reads things online that get them riled up in a validating way. It seems to me that it's more about being a part of something. Something, in this case, being YouTube.

I wonder why more people aren't talking about the privilege necessary to Occupy anything. If I miss class to protest, I end up back on academic probation, lose my financial aid, and can't afford school anymore. But I know that leaves me light years ahead of the women who barely know what's going on because they work two jobs and can't miss a shift because every dollar is accounted for. There are adults in my college classes who do not have internet access in any form, or gas money to get up into Miami. This may be part of my irritation with the Occupiers; they seem to me to be overwhelmingly white, healthy, able-bodied, middle class people with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. They get to feel like they're downtrodden because they're using the MASSIVE grouping "NINETY NINE PERCENT" that means "the A-list movie stars and really big time CEOs are ruining it for the rest of us common folks!!" and nevermind that they have no idea what it's like to be in a public assistance line or would be mortified to get their debit card declined at the checkout. I have a strong feeling that people with tents and iPads at these protests are almost never in the bottom 30+% - you need some kind of safety net and/or support system to be able to go live in a park for a month without your kids starving or your landlord kicking you out of your place, you know? It makes me want to go slap stickers on their foreheads that say their individual global rank, with their more specific US number factored in - "I'm in the top 8%". Ideally without them knowing, because it would make the videos so much more ironic.

*sigh*

There are major problems with our economy, and I see huge and steadily escalating financial trouble in the future of the United States. I just wanted, I suppose, to point out that for my little circle of loved ones, for now - life is pretty good. And for most people I know, online and off - their lives are pretty good, too. I don't feel represented by 99%-ers. And I don't think anybody is going about making changes that need to happen, happen, by "occupying". I'ts kind of like breast cancer "awareness" - you know, where you just buy pink things and reblog stuff that makes people "aware" that breast cancer is, like, totally a thing, and nevermind any true information or policy change that could lessen actual rates.

I suppose I should be grateful that "slactivism" is movin' on up and becoming more action-oriented than this, at least, which is all my generation has seemed capable of previously:

Comments

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

preach it !

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I wonder why more people aren't talking about the privilege necessary to Occupy anything. If I miss class to protest, I end up back on academic probation, lose my financial aid, and can't afford school anymore. But I know that leaves me light years ahead of the women who barely know what's going on because they work two jobs and can't miss a shift because every dollar is accounted for. There are adults in my college classes who do not have internet access in any form, or gas money to get up into Miami. This may be part of my irritation with the Occupiers; they seem to me to be overwhelmingly white, healthy, able-bodied, middle class people with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. They get to feel like they're downtrodden because they're using the MASSIVE grouping "NINETY NINE PERCENT" that means "the A-list movie stars and really big time CEOs are ruining it for the rest of us common folks!!" and nevermind that they have no idea what it's like to be in a public assistance line or would be mortified to get their debit card declined at the checkout. I have a strong feeling that people with tents and iPads at these protests are almost never in the bottom 30+% - you need some kind of safety net and/or support system to be able to go live in a park for a month without your kids starving or your landlord kicking you out of your place, you know? It makes me want to go slap stickers on their foreheads that say their individual global rank, with their more specific US number factored in - "I'm in the top 8%". Ideally without them knowing, because it would make the videos so much more ironic.


Seeing people I used to hang out with go hogwild over OWS has clarified something I've been really embarrassed about for a long time.

I have been unable to get rid of a persistent, ugly feeling of resentment towards these people. I am by the grace of God generally free from envy, but when I read about their sketching trips and band tours and the parties they get to go to and just the general really nice time they have of it back in MY hometown, I am really angry and jealous. But I'm ashamed of this because it is totally against my belief system. What they have doesnt' take anything away from me, they don't owe me anything, why the butthurt?

Now I understand. It's INFURIATING that these people simultaneously agitate against private property and a person's right to their own time and labor, and yet have never done a damn thing for me or any other mother I know. They live lives totally insulated from the demands of children, the sick, and the old. They are perfectly happy to dump all this shit on us and go party with the other people who don't want any responsibility. But now other people owe them something?

I am totally ok with isolating yourself from society and telling people who want stuff from you to go hang. But then.... you don't get the support of society. That's how bohemianism works. The way it doesn't work is going your own way until you're too old to pull high quality poon anymore/get dudes to fund your life then start whining that you should get all the social benefits of people who married early and raised kids and are now beginning to enjoy the crop they sowed.

This isn't really financial, it's social. And fuck em all sideways.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

I have two kids and a brother who is on the list for a heart and liver transplant (of which only 13 of those were performed in the whole country last year). Occasionally my grandmother comes stay with me for a few hours if no one else can take care of her because she can't be by herself. I am not isolated from anything. But I have a very real problem with the way that wealth is distributed, and I am happy that somebody has the time to take to the streets and say that they are NOT okay with the status quo, because I can't be there all the time.

These people don't want to generally take things from society en mass while they go party. They just want everyone to be able to have a chance to be able to succeed, and there are so many ways that ordinary people cannot succeed. And I don't mean succeed, as in, have three BMWs, a vacation house in the Hamptons, and doggie daycare all around. I mean succeed in having just a basic level of human dignity, which the United States aside for a second, simply is not a worldwide reality under our current system. As a spiritual person, which you seem to be from the language in your post, I don't know why you wouldn't want someone to be striving for human dignity. Sure, maybe forgiving all student loans is an entitled elite cause. But most of what the Occupy Movement is trying to do is, in fact, helping specifically children, sick people, and old people. At least the people I know are fighting for those things, even if the ones you know are not.

It's strange that you are saying that these people only want things for themselves. They want to change the way our society works because even though a few more people are very wealthy under our current system, even more have virtually nothing. And it's true, if you are working three minimum wage jobs to support your kids, you are not Occupying anything. That's why other people are speaking out on their behalf.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

That shit drives me crazy! How can a cause commandeer an entire color?!

[ariellejuliana.livejournal.com]

This might be my favorite post of yours ever!

[phoebebeast.livejournal.com]

Amen!

[sashafarce.livejournal.com]

For the most part, this expresses my general feeling toward this "Occupy" protest. I am from and attend college in Alabama, a pretty poor place as it is. My girlfriend lives just outside of Miami and is an attorney working in Coral Gables. We have commingled finances that nowhere near reach the $593,000 threshold that is considered the 1%.

Like you, I could totally frame my life situation in a negative sense, and sometimes it IS hard to keep positive in these financial times. I could write out my situation on notebook paper and talk about how I don't have and am not eligible for any health insurance so I have to manage my diabetes on the fly, or how I drive a 15 year old car that I hope makes it through the next year, or how my partner had emergency surgery last year that insurance refuses to cover so if they keep rejecting her appeals we're going to have to find a way to pay for it, or how my apartment has had mice on and off since July and my landlord refuses to handle the problem etc. But that's not the reality of the situation; we're still privileged in ways that people in other countries and indeed the hills and mountains of the south where I grew up still aren't. This is still the nicest place I've ever lived even with mouse interference, if the insurance company fails to pay for my partner's emergency surgery then we'll set up a payment plan, and if my car dies then I'll struggle for a bit but we can eventually replace it. My health is an issue, but through creative means I can keep it under control. I am fortunate, and that's my reality as someone considered to be in the 99%.

Do I believe that taxes need to be raised, that social programs need to be expanded, that healthcare for all is necessary and that every human being deserves to have a safe shelter out of the elements? Absolutely. Is this the way to go about it? No. When I see these people out protesting I see entitlement.

New York Magazine did an informal poll of a sample of protesters earlier in the occupation - 55% of them who could vote in the midterm elections did not. Go figure. (http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/occupy-wall-street-2011-10/)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

This is a great comment, thank you.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

This is how I feel and I am one generation removed from anything resembling real poverty. I just don't get it. How did all these people grow up so totally lacking in perspective?

[(Anonymous)]

You're right about a few things here, namely the privilege of the protesters, but I think you've missed the point of the whole movement. They're not there to ask the government for money (or better education or free anything) or to show off how poor they are. The point is not that 99% of Americans are in poverty. The point is that compared to the 1% (which is strictly corporations, no celebrities...) which, even if you think will always exist, has no reason to be monetarily controlling the people's representatives in government.
The point is that it doesn't matter who you vote for if they've all got GE in their pocket, that money is what shapes the policy. Not the voice of the voters, which is what a democracy is. So it doesn't matter if some of the protesters have iPads or are in the top 4% because they still wouldn't have a chance in hell of influencing the government lobbyists to that degree or not paying a cent of tax. It's about the unimaginable greed of the corporations, and the terrifying way in which your economy and government are controlled by them.

So yeah, a lot of the protesters wouldn't know true poverty if it bit them in the face, but it's not about the 99%'s poverty, it's about the ridiculous riches of the 1%, and the ways their greed and control have really negatively influenced a lot of American social and economic policy. The banks really did fuck over a lot of families to a degree where they will never, ever recover and a lot more people would have access to healthcare if insurance companies weren't allowed to basically roam free and refuse cover to whoever they like. They're not in unending poverty, but they're supposed to live in America, one of the richest countries in the world. If the top 1% can't learn to share that wealth the way the rest of us share what little we have through taxes, then eventually the US will be completely screwed.

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

wow, the misinformation and inaccuracies in this comment are epic and so totally representative of the mindset being discussed in this post.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

This is also a great comment. I don't feel like the "point of the whole movement" has been clear at all, though - and what you're saying here is wonderful! But what I keep seeing is not what you're saying here. I see melodramatic emo teenage faces holding sheets of paper saying things like "I am a college student who can't afford to live on campus and has no hope of ever getting hired once I earn my degree. I am the 99%", and people who've never voted in their life tweeting "We will rack up arrest records 10 miles long, we don't fucking care".

The point is that it doesn't matter who you vote for if they've all got GE in their pocket, that money is what shapes the policy. Not the voice of the voters, which is what a democracy is. So it doesn't matter if some of the protesters have iPads or are in the top 4% because they still wouldn't have a chance in hell of influencing the government lobbyists to that degree or not paying a cent of tax. It's about the unimaginable greed of the corporations, and the terrifying way in which your economy and government are controlled by them.

Do you think the typical Occupiers are planning or hoping that the protests here grow to the extent that the Israeli ones have? Because anything less than that, in protesting, seems very ineffective... I'm not sure what the right thing to do about that is.

[zeldazonk.livejournal.com]

I like this post.

[emeraldrabbit.livejournal.com]

Hey, you referenced me! :D lol. I am way too tired to get all up into it, but yes, you know I feel you and love you for this. <3

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I didn't know if you would want to be identified.

[traumerin.livejournal.com]

I think it's good to recognize just how good we have it as Americans, even those of us who may be "considered" poor - but just because protesters are in the upper echelon of the 99% doesn't make them wrong. Many of their issues are valid, imho (though I am cynical that OWS is going to do much to change them, but maybe it's a start...), in that the so-called 1% is often disproprotionately undertaxed, and that a government bailing out corporations for their financial irresponsability and then cutting all kinds of social services to its citizens is a disgrace. As one of those economist quotes floating around facebook says, we've privatized gains and socialized losses.

(Now, one can make the argument that it is better for the financial system as a whole to bail out such corporations, which may be true - but this recent bail out barely addressed the problems of the system as a whole)

Perhaps the real problem is that those protesters with their "iPhones and tents" are only the tip of the entitlement iceberg.

[emeraldrabbit.livejournal.com]

I agree with this

"a government bailing out corporations for their financial irresponsability and then cutting all kinds of social services to its citizens is a disgrace"

but definitely not this

"the so-called 1% is often disproportionately undertaxed"

I've yet to see anyone even come up with a consistent figure of who the 1% ARE, let alone show any true knowledge of what they pay in taxes. You cannot compare middle-class income tax to upper-class capital gains tax and call it the same thing. The top 1% primarily earn income for that money, and they're charged a higher income tax than the rest of us, and a capital gains tax IN ADDITION if they also have investments that generate an income. My parents pay something in the ballpark of 45% of their income in taxes every year, and my dad works 8-10 hour days and half days some Saturdays in a non-financial industry.

There is a mysterious land across the ocean and you need to know about it

[(Anonymous)]

You're giving me flashbacks! I'm American; I used to think like this and now kind of can't believe that I did so, but I was safely enclosed in the American bubble and did not bother to research the rest of the world. Europe and Britain? Total Communists over there, or maybe Socialists but it's all the same! 'Nuff said, right? Turns out not.

I live in the UK now and I have no interest in living in the USA again (except that I've got family there) because it seems kinda primitive to me now. We still have a 1% problem here, and it is getting worse since the right came to power last year, but the British HAVE achieved a much more equitable society. Here are some things they have WITHOUT also having an authoritarian government or being a bunch of Commies:

- Government healthcare, provided free to all. And no death panels either! I probably cannot express how much it means to me to know that I live somewhere where we do not let people die or get by on sub-optimal care due to their financial situation. This is possible and it is fantastic (and yes, I do use the NHS myself, frequently, and the quality is very good). I look back at the USA and it is barbaric that people have to fundraise for life-saving surgery in the richest nation on earth (or, as in my sister's case, delay investigation into potentially dangerous health problems because she can't afford the co-pay). It does not have to be that way and I know this through direct experience.

- Public transportation infrastructure. No car? No problem. We have trains, buses and trams. Most everywhere. Buses even go to plenty of rural areas and villages and most population centres can be reached by train. Also fantastic (and apparently our system is not great compared to those in many countries on the continent).

- A robust welfare state. OMG, welfare state, next everyone will be assigned jobs at the government cheese factory! No. We have a thriving private sector AND AND AND a benefits system that ensures that people do not a) starve or b) remain homeless if they become so. That's right - local councils (local gov't) have a legal obligation to make sure that people who have become homeless are put under a roof. They're not given a house of their own or a gold-plated Mercedes in which to drive there (which is the kind of nonsense you'll read if you ever come across a right-wing British newspaper), but some kind of basic accommodation is provided while people sort themselves out.

Bottom line: no one starves here. No one goes without healthcare. No one is homeless here unless their behavior is such that they get themselves kicked out of council-arranged accommodation.

Bonus points: university education - fees are only repayable once graduates start earning a certain amount of money after graduation.

So it's not true that things have to be the way they are in America and that having your basic physical needs met, guaranteed, is some kind of Hollywood pipe dream. We have so much in the Western world, and the 99-percenters - and I count myself among them - are sick of seeing obscene amounts of wealth stuck at the top. I can't speak for the others, but I am clear about what I want - more equitable re-distribution of wealth. And, as the UK has proved, this does NOT have to mean pure socialism. You can have, and we do have, a strong private sector economy and a level of taxation that enables us to take care of each other through the medium of government programs and services.

PS - when I came over here, I was not a liberal ready to embrace the British way. Oh Lord. I was such a Republican. Limited government, bootstraps, sink or swim, survival of the fittest, all that nonsense. I was a hardcore and lifelong devotee of right-wing ideology and the holy free market, although I was always baffled that most highly intelligent people I knew or knew of were on the left. I decided it meant I was even smarter than they were. But once I'd lived here a while I was like, "SHIIIIIIT. Those lefty nutcases WERE RIGHT ALONG. Dangit." So I had a choice: ignore evidence and stick with my politics in spite of reality, or face facts and admit I was wrong. I chose the latter.

Re: There is a mysterious land across the ocean and you need to know about it

[medland.livejournal.com]

I agree with you for most of this and am glad that you said it. However -

No one is homeless here unless their behavior is such that they get themselves kicked out of council-arranged accommodation.

That's not entirely true. Homelessness IS big problem in the UK and the reasons for it are highly complex. A lot of our homeless people are ex military or have come out of prison. A large number of them have serious mental health problems and/or drink and drug problems. Some of them want to be homeless. Housing lists for council properties are LONG. There is also a hidden underclass of homelessness and vulnerably housed people who are sleeping on people's sofas or living in shitty B and Bs. Yes we have council housing and for the most part it works but it's not as easy as 'Homeless? Have a house!'

university education - fees are only repayable once graduates start earning a certain amount of money after graduation.

You have to pay your fees upfront. You get a student loan which is repayable once you get to a certain earning level but there IS money that has to be paid upfront. If you come from a low income family there will be ways around this, it's actually hardest for the middle (people like me) who come/came from families that are too well off to get subsidised fees but not well off enough to actually stump up £9000 in one go without it being a serious hardship.

[medland.livejournal.com]

on demand completely free high quality healthcare; rigorous yet fun free public education for all kids in every area, that parents don't have to do anything to facilitate; significant amounts of very enjoyable leisure time for every person

Finland has this. As does Sweden and Denmark and, to some extent, Norway. It is possible and it is happening.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

You know, from what I know of those countries (admittedly mostly gleaned from maternal health statistics, an article on bikes/transit I read once, a single friend who moved to one of them, and novels) I think you are probably right and I should have thought of them when I was posting.

HOWEVER. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN THAT WAY IN PLACES WHERE IT'S SO FUCKING COLD?! I just cannot see places like that as good places to go with the reality of weather factored in.

Still and all, we could probably learn something from the model.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

The people at these protests are first of all, not staying there 100% of the time. People come, people go. If people are there all the time it's because they clearly don't have anywhere else to be, as in, they do not have a job. 10% of America doesn't have a job, and this is primarily because jobs have been cut so that the top 1% can make more profits. This happened to my dad. He was at a company that was making a decent amount of profit, but it wasn't deemed ENOUGH profit, so it was sold to the Carlisle Group, who controls 1/4 of the economy (or, they did at the time...possibly it is different now), and they restructured it, laying off every single person at his company.

America is in a race to the bottom, and these protesters want this race to end. The point of our society should not be, let's see how little the average person can get by with. And saying that we have it so much better than Third World countries...well, that's true, but a whole slew of the poverty in Third World countries is the direct result of the top 1% of Americans exploiting THOSE people as well. They won't forgive their debt; they charge crazy interest rates; and overcharge to a disgusting extent for the completely substandard living conditions that people in those places live in. People in Wall Street profit off of shared toilets in the slums of India (which many people still can't afford); they profit off of 16' x 14' foot clay huts that a family of eight in Africa shares. And they make A LOT of money from this, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

Two of my friends were arrested in Occupy Boston (both have jobs), and the supposed reason for this was that they were going to trample the expensive landscaping, but in fact, the only time the landscaping got trampled was by the police, who were arresting people for "trespassing" on land that they had permission to be on. If they hadn't spent a night in a cozy air-conditioned prison cell, where it wasn't like they could sleep because they were in a holding cell with 20 other women who had been arrested that night, they would have spent it at their apartments. (One of them is getting kicked out of her apartment in March because the landlord wants to turn it into a bigger, more luxurious place so that he can make more money.) The protestors are also not all white, all middle class. That is just how they are presented in the media. There is a very real movement to reach out to the most disenfranchised to join them in the protest.

I did VOTE in every election I could since I was 18, and voting has accomplished basically nothing, as far as I am concerned. Obama did not do what I wanted. I did not want him to pass a watered-down, half-assed healthcare bill. I did not want him to bail out banks. I did not want him to uphold tax cuts for the top 1%, while we keep going further and further into debt. We can't "cut" our way out of debt...unless maybe you cut all military spending, which I'd be fine with, but I'm not holding my breath. There has to be an increase in revenue, too. When I voted for him, I did not expect that he would have done any of these things that he did. He was better than John McCain, who probably would have made things worse. But VOTING got me absolutely none of the things I want. (Actually, I guess I like the garden at the White House, so that's something).

I wanted our country to go much further left-wing (more socialist democracy, more like Europe) than it did. There is not even really a way, through voting for me to express this, because until a few weeks ago, the idea that wealth should be redistributed in a more equitable way was such a marginal position that it barely even existed. People had to go to the streets to get this message across.

I do not want more of the "stuff" wealthy people have. I want all of the many people who are less fortunate than me to be able to afford health care, decent housing, safe child care/education for their children, clothes, and food. The point is that just because you and I and everyone we know has a lot, this does not in any way mean that there isn't a significant portion of society that has extremely little, but could have a much more comfortable standard of living, if the top 1% lived slightly less extravagantly.

[emeraldrabbit.livejournal.com]

I live in Boston, too, and I have a cousin who's been camping out at Occupy Boston for three weeks. They did NOT have permission to be there-- it's privately-owned space that is accessible to the public, which is different from public space. The plantings cost $150k and undoubtedly would have been destroyed by all the heavy foot traffic and camping out (which is prohibited overnight, by the way, as it is on the Greenway, Menino's just being a pussy about saying no to what he fears will become a violent and unruly crowd if he applies the actual local laws about nonviolent protests), especially in the heavy rain they had for several days.

On top of that, the group has been given free electricity and trash removal by the city and they still haven't been required to obtain any permits, even though they're supposed to. And the police, who helped protect the protestors from traffic, helped block off roads for them to sit and hold signs, and walked with them on their marches for safety, are accused of "brutality" when they say "listen, you have to stay on your original camp, you can't spread out over here, and we'll have to make you move if you don't listen." Getting arrested isn't supposed to be fun, and resisting arrest is its own criminal charge, but OMGZ THE BROOTALITY. If people walked with them instead of dragging their legs and insisting on being carried, there would have been far fewer minor injuries to frantically tweet about.

[methebee.livejournal.com]

while i technically fall under the "99%' i do realize how fortunate i am. i had to quit my full time job to complete student teaching for my masters. this was a sacrifice i made and am still living with. as a teacher i can't find a single full-time teach gig and have been looking since last may. it's frustrating when you know schools are under way too much pressure and kids need good teachers. i feel fortunate to have a roof over my head, food on my plate and paid bills. not everyone can say the same. yet, it doesn't make me feel any less depressed about the lack of jobs out there for me.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Education really is in crisis (note my own children being homeschooled)...sigh, this is what I mean though. You get a whole lot of really massive issues that are relatively independent of each other (govt bailouts, education, health care, "the economy") and put a smattering of the best-off in the country in parks with signs, and you expect something to...happen? Something radical and sweeping?

I'm not sure what the ideal thing to DO is, and as I said at the end of this post, I really do think this occupy movement is a step up, "action" wise, from facebook slactivism....I just think it's still missing the mark by a pretty wide margin.

Good luck, btw. I'm sorry it's hard going.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

I know. Sociologists are biased; it's true. But that statistic was pretty straightforward, and even if you don't believe any of the conclusions they reach, it's still flat out not true that anyone is paying 45% of their income in federal tax. And he/she did ask where this perception that the top 1% pays lower taxes, comes from, and that's one of many sources that cites such information. It of course depends on how you interpret it, like if corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, etc. count and how they should count. And the information is 3 years old. But the gist is still the same.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

it's still flat out not true that anyone is paying 45% of their income in federal tax

We do.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

I really and truly want to understand how your story and mine are so completely off from each others.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

It's people who can count vs people who won't. You're getting suckered by people who refuse to do math.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

It's math based on contradictory information, though. I am totally happy to count my own taxes, which are not 45%, but how am I supposed to know what other people pay. Actual peer reviewed sources do not indicate that people pay an income tax equal to 45% of their income (which is separate and different from Social Security and matters for reasons outlined in this [admittedly, once again biased] article http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html). All I have is a couple of random people on the Internet swearing they do, and I really want to know if this is some kind of major shortfall in information (which I guess is what you are saying), or if maybe you have misinterpreted something. In the end, it's a minute point, because I don't think you or I would argue that the middle class should pay more in taxes. I mostly would argue that corporate tax loopholes should be closed and that certain financial strategies that are legal in America (but not in Europe) should be closed. And that has little to do with personal income tax, although it probably would cause some people in the top 1% to make less money.

[jilsynchro.livejournal.com]

And, just for fun, here's a screen shot from an Economics journal saying that the top rate is 34.7% (in 2004, but taxes were cut since then, not raised).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14202118@N03/6265219053/in/photostream

Don't believe the hype.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the media has given you all the wrong idea. I'm here in New York and I've been down to OWS and follow it regularly.

The media is trying to paint this as a bunch of people complaining that they don't have enough but that's not the point, it's just a symptom of the problem.

The problem is that our government no longer serves the people. They serve corporate interests.
There's a Princeton study done by Larry Bartels and Martin Gilens that shows that policies that are supported by an overwhelming majority of common people are generally not passed whereas policies supported by the top 3% of Americans almost always are voted in. These are the people that are elected to represent the majority and the data shows that they aren't doing that.

In 1981 the capitol gains tax was 48% then it was cut in HALF with one bill to 28% and today it's only 15%!
The majority of the top 1% make most of their money on capital gains, not earned income. Therefore, most of the top 1% are only being taxed 15% on MOST of their income.
And we're worried about the deficit? Politicians are cutting social programs, education funding, regulatory cost, etc. Those cuts directly affect you and I and the rest of the 99%.

Furthermore, today's CEOs are making so much more than the average worker that it's actually hurting our economy. Not only were the banks entirely responsible for the economic crash (and were never penalized for it) but when the middle class shrinks as greatly as it has, that stagnates growth overall. Our economy can't get better if the middle class keeps shrinking the way it's shrinking.
In 1965 the average CEO of a large us corporation made around 24 times the earnings of a typical worker. By 2007 average CEO pay was accelerating toward 300 times typical earnings! In 2007 the average CEO of the 350 largest publicly traded companies made $12million PER YEAR!
America CEOs are paid more than twice as much as ANY other country in the world! The disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us is far higher than any other developed country in the world. We are more along the lines third world countries like Nicaragua in terms of disparity of wealth in this country. In fact, Nicaragua and other third world nations like it are quickly become less stratified than us.
With the amount of ridiculous wealth in the country there is no reason why 75% of the wealth in our country should be controlled by 1% of the population.

THAT is what this movement is about. There are some people who are asking for some unreasonable things (like forgiving all school loan debt) but the vast majority of us here on the ground in New York (and I'm assuming in the other participating cities) we're not asking for hand outs. We're not sitting on the sidewalk whining about how much we don't have. We're fed up with having no influence over our own government despite being 99% of the people in this country.

Re: Don't believe the hype.

[jsl32.livejournal.com]

TL DR;
"We want more stuff from rich people and pension funds (one of the primary buyers for what the evil CEOs and bankers sell, y'know)."

The debt through which much of our government's spending is financed comes from selling treasuries to various institutions, like pension funds that provide pensions for nice union employed people like...teachers.

I really don't like being boxed into the position of defending anything about Wall Street, but people do not realize how tightly the web is woven.

I am pretty sure this anon has no idea how debt financing works, nor where the instruments involved end up.

Gotta nurse, so this is whar I'll have to end 4 now.