Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
One of the things that annoyed me during the Tea Party protests was how some elements of the media would alternate between ignoring tea partiers and presenting them in the harshest light. I've covered enough protests to know that every single protest has fringe characters, even if the protest itself is pretty fringe. It's a challenge to present the group fairly.
So I've been trying to get a feel for the issues motivating the Occupy Wall Street protesters. I almost gave up when I learned that the non-sensical, impotent Adbusters magazine had initiated the idea. You can read more about that in this Mother Jones critique of Occupy Wall Street (or this criticism of Adbusters at, don't get nauseous, the Daily Dish).
I came across this Tumblr where people post images showing themselves to be in solidarity with the movement. It's called We are the 99 Percent. It would be easy to post satirical messages to this page, but I honestly can't tell the difference between satire and actual solidarity. The stories are all rather bizarre. The top one right now claims that her mother, a "leader in her field of pathology" is upside-down in her house while her father, who has "multiple PhD's" lives in his car so he "can do what he loves for a living rather than be a slave to the system." Hunh?
In the midst of the weird stories are stories that seem mostly about bad decision making. And I say this as someone who has watched many of my generation in my family suffer serious losses through prolonged unemployment. And I have my own anger about how this swampland of Washington, D.C. has become such prized real estate that it's impossible to buy a decent home in a safe part of town unless both spouses are lobbyists. And yet ....
Must Wall Street be blamed for your decision to behave immorally? See:
"I lost an inheritance to an investment in WorldCom, my union's benefits stopped when work stopped in early 2009. Then I developed a life-threatening illness. I started selling my BODY to survive. The bills get paid; I don't streetwalk and it's honest. I am the 99%. Occupy WallStreet.org."
One of the comments chastises hims for looking down on street walkers. Heck, I didn't even buy his story.
"I am an unemployed printer repairman with $87,000 in student loans. I make ends meet by cleaning the bathrooms at Ryan's Steak House. I was forced to move back into my mom's basement, and I cannot afford to feed my cats because they won't take food stamps for cat food."
Now, I worked full-time to put myself through school without any debt so I'm totally confused here. You take out more than $87,000 in student loans to go to a school where you learn how to repair printers? What am I missing? Also, this has to be satire, right? To make a point about how federal food benefits are used by people who want to feed cats?
This woman -- who claims she is $100,000 in student loan debt from going to school to be a teacher, and $15,000 in credit card debt -- is blaming Wall Street for her apparent inability to do math, right?
And this one from a woman whose husband works hard to keep the family in a nice school district. What in the heck does that have to do with Wall Street? Maybe she should share her plight with this guy, instead.
Again, I'm as angry at the crony capitalism this country is involved in as anyone. But there just seems to be too much confusion about personal responsibility in these protests.
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Jun '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I think it's designed to be just like Egypt's Arab Spring. At first, it's all things to all people. If you're angry about something, show up. All are welcome. Then...when this unfocused mass of protesters is large enough, and invested enough, then comes the socialist revolution talk, and the emerging socialist leaders. If they defined their purpose from the start, then they couldn't build a big enough base. I think there's a method to the madness.
Sep '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
To make a point about how federal food benefits are used by people who want to feed cats?
If we can subscribe to websites and post material that others pay to read then fair is fair.
Mar '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
This weird collection of "Progressive" groups and people is really messing up a real opportunity here. If they had come together on a message about the big bank/ Wall Street Bailouts they really could have tapped into something. They could have even gotten tacit support from some conservatives and libertarians who also did not like bailing out the big banks.
This random collection of grips and weird sob stories will not gather that type of moderate to conservative support. They just look foolish. No matter what the "Tea Party" was discussing the single theme was smaller government. Busing in Unions does not make for a "grass roots" cause.
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I've seen so many comparisons of the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street. Particularly from the left equating their unfocused natures. Hogwash. The Tea Party had a clear goal and clear agenda to get there. Less taxes, less government and vote the bums out if they don't agree.
The other issue I have with Occupy Wall Street is it's so bent left, they refuse to include Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac and all the other Democratic contributions (Chris Dodd) to our current sad state of affairs. If they are aware of it at all. I agree with etoiledunoid...it's all heading toward socialist dogma. I'm just afraid that like the 1930's, the majority of the country could be bad off enough to want to lean that way.
Jun '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
Two points:
1. I used to instruct my econ and government students with the following: "It's not how much money you make, it's how you manage it that counts." I might as well have been instructing a classroom of potted plants. Nearly everyone of them obtained credit cards and a new car prior to graduating high school despite my best efforts to demonstrate the math concerning the true cost of buying on credit. Dangling credit in front of the instant gratification generation is like throwing a jitterbug into a pond full of bass.
2. Every student of economics knows what happens when a government floods the economy with paper. Higher education reacted to easy student loans based on market principles. The result was massive inflation in the cost of becoming credentialed. There is no mystery to simple economics other than the fact it's no longer taught.
Edited on Oct 5, 2011 at 8:09amNov '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I alternate between hopeful and hopeless, for this country. There just seems to be no end to the mentality that everything is owed to them. That doesn't make a lot of sense what I just wrote. Let me give a better example. We are fostering 3 kids. last night my wife and I had a church meeting. We knew that our oldest, nearly 18, would be home from work at 7:30, so we left the kids with the two 12 year olds for about 30 minutes. Then the oldest calls and says "Someone didn't show up to work so they want me to stay till close." So sorry, we need you at home, says I. And of course, his shift supervisor was a little perturbed. But here's my point: who just doesn't show up for work? And why is it my problem? Why is it my kid's problem? I mean, this is a minor situation, right? But a symptom of the larger problem. Rant Complete.
Nov '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I guess what I am saying is no, I'm not part of the 99%. I'm part of the 10-15% that actually does something to make the country work. Thanks for getting my blood pressure up, Mollie!
Jan '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I am confused too. For example, I don't quite see what the complaint is in this post:
"The Monday after graduating with my “useless” communications degree, I started as an intern in IT at a local college, making minimum wage doing work that was not related to major, but work nonetheless. After a year of showing up on time and doing my job, they hired me full time and I was awarded affordable health benefits and a retirement fund. Two years and no raises later, they offered to pay for my MBA through their program at the business school. . . . I finished my MBA and I was promoted into a higher paying job.."
Sounds fine . . . you worked hard, got a job, learned more skills, got promoted . . .
You might actually be in the 1% . . .
Maybe she was hoping for a different result?
Edited on Oct 5, 2011 at 9:01amSep '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I admire you for fostering, but do you think you are among the 10-15% elite. May I suggest 60-70%? You don't hear much from them because they're to busy working.
Nov '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
~Paules: Two points:
Every student of economics knows what happens when a government floods the economy with paper. Higher education reacted to easy student loans based on market principles. The result was massive inflation in the cost of becoming credentialed. There is no mystery to simple economics other than the fact it's no longer taught. ·
I wish someone could get this message out. I am plenty mad about student loans and the cost of higher education, I guess sort of like the Wall Street imbeciles/daffodils. However, I am mad at the correct people--the people who made the student loans available that allowed the colleges and universities to so inflate the cost of higher education. If you could manage to educate the imbeciles/daffodils about this one basic fact, it would give a very different flavor to their whole protest, wouldn't it? But they are probably uneducable.
Sep '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
The Tea Party, the Arab Spring, the European demonstrations, and the loons on Wall Street; if you care to think these are all unrelated and merely coincidental occurrences you are free to do so. It might however be wise to begin to ponder the possibility they are symptomatic of something.
Dec '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I was a part of a two income family. Then my wife died. Twelve days later I was layed off. The job market was brutal. It took me a long time to find a new job. Technically, I guess I was a poor person for a couple of years, but I was an American poor person. I've seen poor people in other countries. I wasn't really a poor person. I think many of these peple need to see what poor really means.
Edited on Oct 5, 2011 at 10:07amJan '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
To quote David Burge (iowahawkblog) from Twitter:
"Occupy Wall Street calls themselves '99 Percenters.' The Hells Angels call themselves '1 Percenters.' Let's have a playoff and settle it."
Aug '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
I would like to add my voice to those who pointed out that the availability of student loans has been a driver behind the increase of tuition for higher education. My wife and I make that young woman with $100k student loan debt look like she got off cheap. When we moved to LA for graduate school -- both of us simultaneously attending -- we had to take student loans to pay for tuition to make ends meet.
This included the fact that my wife had a TA position in a highly competitive program that offered very few TA positions for the number of students they registered, and that I had a part-time position that paid reasonably well -- for a part-time position. As a married couple, with a dog and two cats, housing wasn't free and a dozen roommates wasn't an option.
Without her TA position, and my 75% fellowship at a school that had no teaching positions for grad students, we couldn't have gone even with loans. With the loans, we managed to have a spending income of around 24k a year for all of our bills other than education.
Mar '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
It maybe sounds too conspiratorial for the Ricochet CoC, but Glenn Beck is explaining this pretty well on GBTV (I watch on my Roku) -- basically, it's the International Socialists/Marxists coming out of the woodwork (hidden since the 1960's), in an effort to get Mr Obama re-elected, and in opposition to the Tea Party. It is a continuation of the Arab Spring -- Van Jones calls it the American Fall. It is related to International Islamism, which will eventually take over from Socialism/Marxism, in much the same way it did in Iran around 1979. It is just starting.
If you don't believe in conspiracy theories, then it will all look rather confusing.
Edited on Oct 5, 2011 at 1:12pmDec '10
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
David Williamson: It maybe sounds too conspiratorial for the Ricochet CoC, but Glenn Beck is explaining this pretty well on GBTV (I watch on my Roku) -- basically, it's the International Socialists/Marxists coming out of the woodwork (hidden since the 1960's), in an effort to get Mr Obama re-elected, and in opposition to the Tea Party. It is a continuation of the Arab Spring -- Van Jones calls it the American Fall. It is related to International Islamism, which will eventually take over from Socialism/Marxism, in much the same way it did in Iran around 1979. It is just starting.
If you don't believe in conspiracy theories, then it will all look rather confusing. · Oct 5 at 10:42am
I am happy to say that I find this confusing.
Apr '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
From the quotes by those protesting, this seems more akin to the riots in England than the Arab Spring. There's a sense of entitlement about them, coupled with a complete lack of responsibility for the self and one's own actions.
Mar '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
Err, yes - does sound like International Socialism.
Btw, if you are wondering about the apparently mindless repetition by the crowd of what a speaker is saying, it is an ingenious way round the "no bull horn" police ruling. There is method in madness.
Apr '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
Seems I am master of the obvious.
Jan '11
Re: Are You Part of the 99 Percent?
Ooops . . . I didn't scroll down the page - it appears there are many people on that site who are upset at this person's example! I now think she might be having fun with them (and teaching lessons!).
That'll teach me to post while running on no sleep....