The Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow and has spawned hundreds of other Occupy movements in cities all across the United States and even a few in Europe. In and of itself, this is amazing that so many people have come together to protest what Wall Street and large multi-national corporations did to Americans and the world. To protest the bail outs of the very people that caused the problem to begin with as they laughed all the way to the bank with the Taxpayers money, thanks to TARP.
Of course the Occupy Wall Street movement has detractors that say these Occupy people are hippies and socialists looking for a free government hand out. That's not true from what I've seen on TV and read in the news, they are just regular middle class people who are fed up with the system and want to make a change.
Along comes a new group
We Are The 53% http://the53.tumblr.com/ This group promotes how hard they have worked for what they got and not blaming Wall Street or anybody else for the problems we have. They also openly mock the Occupy movement and use phrases like "Quit blaming others" and "I don't whine about how the wealthy screw me over". The web site is filled with pages of people posting their pictures holding up a piece of paper telling their story. It appears to have been started by a man named Erick Erickson.
http://the53.tumblr.com/post/11055265485...Erick's sign reads
"I work 3 jobs.
I have a house I can't sell.
My family insurance costs are outrageous.
But I don't blame Wall Street.
Suck it up you whiners.
I am the 53% subsidizing you so you can hang out on Wall Street and complain."While Erick's sign is typical of the signs being held up by other 53% members, his does not tell the whole story. For that you should read this about him.
http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10..."The three jobs Erickson wants you to believe he scrapes by on include occasional paid opinion blogging at RedState.com, a lucrative television contract with CNN, and a radio gig that paid the previous host $165,183 a year". While he can't sell "one" of his two houses, he fails to note that he just bought a new house for $374,900. It sounds like all of Erick's hard work has paid off handsomely and maybe he's closer to the 1% than he lets on. Perhaps he's a FINO (Fiftythree In Name Only).
I lived with my parents until I was 29 so I could save up the 15% needed to get a mortgage and buy my home. I buy cars used and keep them as long as I can, my last new car was in 1997. My current car is a 1998 convertible that leaks badly that I bought in 2001. If I get into an accident I'm screwed insurance will want to total a 13 year old car for even a minor repair. I was fired two years ago and struggled to find another job, I've paid off all my debt except the house and I don't use a Credit Card. I live below my means and I make ends meet as best I can. I don't feel special or privileged or entitled, does that make me a 53%'er. I'm not sure, but I don't think so.
I understand what Wall Street has done to me, and too many of my friends. I don't think the 53% understands how Wall Street affected them too, even as they worked so hard for what they got. Erick does not seem to understand it was Wall Street Hedge Fund Managers that came up with the idea to take his mortgage and slice it up into shares and package it as a Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaterali... When the housing bubble burst in 2008 Wall Street got the taxpayers, Erick included, to pay for TARP. Now he can't sell his house, but he did save over $200,000 when he bought his new home.
Erick also gripes about the rising cost of Healthcare, but fails to note Wall Street's involvement in it as insurance is now part of the financial industry since Wall Street got Congress to pass
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 which repealed the part of
The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that kept commercial and investment banks separated. It created the "Financial Industry" as banks, insurance and investments all merge into one big greedy family.
The Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare" has fallen short of what it could have and should have been. Medicare for all could have solved that, but then we would all be Socialists or Canadians, I'm not sure which.
So Erick and the rest of the 53% don't blame Wall Street, but I wonder why? They don't seem to understand the power and control Wall Street wields not only on our economy but our government as well. Nobody is calling for a redistribution of wealth. Nobody is asking for a free ride. All the Occupy movement wants is a little fairness and have Wall Street pay its fair share. The 53% are part of the 99% even if they don't think so. The 53% were screwed over like the rest of us, even if they don't like to admit it.
I have worked hard all my life, did the right things and earned what I got, but I still got fired from a multi-billion dollar company when the economy tanked due to Wall Street and I've been unemployed two years because the economy got worse. Yes, I've become self sufficient as I struggle to survive, we all have too thanks to Wall Street. I applaud the 53% for all the hard work and struggles they have had to deal with and I wonder how much better off they might be, we all might be, today if Wall Street had not done what it did.