Chamblee54

First generation college student and certified teacher. $20,000+ in student loans. 89 elementary schools in my hometown, and I couldn’t find a long-term position! Working outside my field. No healthcare plan, no retirement plan, and I am running short on hope! I AM THE 99%! occupywallst (spell check suggestion:occupational) .org I’m an 66 yr old ex-sailing yacht skipper, ex-gold smith. The yacht sunk and the gold went through the roof. The upper middle class that were my customers is gone. No more income, debt to my landlady, food or rent? I am also the 99%. occupywallst.org I’m 23, married 1 year, just lost my job at a business that had been running for 30 years. We are ok for now, but I live in fear of the future. I am the 99 percent. occupywallst.org I’m 22 going to college for a Fire Science degree. My mom has to work two jobs just to support herself with a bad back. I can’t find work anywhere and the government doesn’t care. I am the 99% I made this sign for us at Occupy Wall Street. I’m a Hell’s Kitchen, NYC born girl who lives in industrial Brooklyn with my husband. We are both artists who largely survive on SSD/pending SSI. These allotments get us by, as we live frugally, but put us in the poverty level. He was born with a physical disability due to a birth trauma, & I’ve been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder. We live in an abandoned coffin factory that has been converted to a livable and affordable housing space for artists, but still fight against the city in housing battles, as they’d love to gentrify the area and price residents out. We are the 99%, and this is what life is like for us. In 2004, I landed a job in a metal plant that produces parts and accessories for Harley Davidson. It put money in my pocket and food in my stomach, but the job required me to endure high temperatures, poor air circulation, and dangerous conditions. In 2008, when the recession first came about, I was constantly getting laid off. I was making half of what I was making before the recession, so I decided to do something else. In 2009, I found a job as a counselor/mentor at a residential treatment facility for disturbed children. I absolutely loved doing the job and enjoyed working with at-risk youth, and reaping the emotional rewards of helping. Shortly after 4 months of working there, I began to observe a lot of injustices occurring within the workplace. Unfair treatment to the employees, long hours with NO breaks, mandatory 16-hour days and constantly understaffing. I put in a two-week notice and got my old job back. I was denied my accrued vacation time from my previous job, even with a two-week notice. Now, I am back to enduring unsanitary and dangerous working conditions. My hands are constantly in pain and my respiratory system is awful. I am 26-years old with no health insurance. I am the 99%. 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. I AM THE 99%. OCCUPY WALL STREET I will be 24 in exactly 1 month. I moved to a big city in 2009 with bright eyes and a job bartending where I pulled $100+ a night in tips. Shortly after my arrival, the bar went bankrupt and I began working in the adult industry behind the scenes to make ends meet. Even the adult industry was hit hard and with no work in sight, I decided to go back to college to pursue a specialized degree that I love (and that is a growing field with prospects). My degree will put me $60,000 in debt by graduation because I attend one of the top 50 schools for this degree. I was accepted into the #3 in the nation for my degree but decided that 60k in debt was better than $225,000 in debt. Because I made the more frugal choice it will harder for me to get a job in this field. I may not be able to attend much longer due to not having enough credit to get a loan this year. Now that I am 24 I do not qualify for loans given to first time college students. I now live with my mother, sister, her two children and her fiancé who also struggle to make ends meet. Our house is roach infested and mouse infested, but we can’t afford to move despite my mother working 60-80 hours a week and my sisters fiancé working 40 hours a week. We also can’t afford an exterminator either and our landlord won’t pay for one. For the first time in my life I know what hungry is. I use my credit card to buy milk, bread, cheese and lunchmeat for my family. Even when I had a high paying job I was denied health care because I was “overweight” with a pre-existing health condition. I now can no longer afford the gym membership I was using to get to a healthy weight, even though it’s only $10 a month. I do not qualify for food stamps because my household makes too much money yet we live check to check and some weeks can’t afford groceries. I do not qualify for free health benefits because my “condition” is not serious enough despite the fact that I may have cancer. I can’t afford the $250 to get a biopsy done or the $200 for the lab results. I cannot get jobs at fast food places or cleaning offices because I am “too qualified” (yay college) and I cannot get jobs working in my desired field because I have “too little experience.” My old boss calls me telling me that he can make me money in the adult entertainment industry if I ever wanted to be in front of the camera. The prospect of ever doing that job makes me cry at night. I shouldn’t have to give myself away for someone else’s viewing pleasure to live. For now I would rather 100% broke, than give up my integrity. It is only through the wisdom and guidance of my best friend and the hope of starting my own business with him that I have not taken my own life.. I am the 99%. Occupywallstreet.org I worked 45-40 hours a week for 5 years for a 2 degree education Wall St considers frivolous and the government doesn’t value. I’m lucky enough to be taken care of now, but where will I be at the end of degree #3? My fiancee convinced me to go to college, graduated with 2 degrees. 40k student loan. Had job for 5 months before losing it because of “season ending”. Student loans were due the following month. Got married. Husband kicked me out and divorced me after 3 months of marriage, leaving me helpless. Been almost 2 years, current BF works 50 hours a week, we have a 4 month old daughter who is on medicare. We can barely afford to pay rent, buy food and diapers. I am hounded daily by the loan company demanding payment, they do not offer any kind of help to pay off the loan or delaying payments over the lack of job. They do not care that I am unemployed, they want full payment NOW. I live in the Philippines where poverty, unemployment, corruption, and injustice prevails. A man sleeping on the street, or a kid selling flowers along highways in Manila are common sights. Still, my heart breaks every time I see such things, the same way my heart broke when I read your stories. I’m tired of the filthy rich on top of the social triangle who keeps getting richer. I’m tired of politicians stuffing their pockets with money while their countrymen drown in poverty and debt. I’m tired of their greed and selfishness. That damn triangle should be inverted. It’s time for a social revolution. America’s 99%’s fight= the rest of the world’s 99%’s fight (and we are quite a lot). We are the 99%. in my last year of college, an african american woman with a double major and $100 k debt to match. “dream degree” right? too afraid to quit school because of the economy, but cant go on because of chronic depression… last week i had to decide whether to pay my moms electric or have food for the week. i contemplate suicide daily. (with school & a 50+ hour work week, i dont have the time to) land of the what? i am the 99%. I have done awful things to make my mortgage payments…including selling my body. But I am no longer willing to sacrifice my remaining shreds of dignity on the altar of a faceless institution that gave me an ill-advised loan to begin with. Are you guys really THAT greedy? Going to be 22 at the end of the month, not excited for 23. I’ve lost 3 good friends on money issues. Recently! 1 I was trying to help out; now again I find myself broke. I eat a meal a day to save just to spend the rest on bus fare. Makes me feel wrong to sacrifice for the sake of others, especially those I care about. Chances are it stays that way. Sad to be part of the 99% “Workers must Organise” As a member of the British Working Class who is involved in protests against the exploitation working people by the rich, I am absolutely thrilled to see the American workers standing up at last against the parasites who exploit and demean their lives daily.Workers and Trade Unionists in Britain support and applaud your efforts,you are not alone the workers of the world are with you This is only the beginning of my financial troubles. I have constant anxiety that my family will not survive, and all I have gotten for my experience, dedication, and strong work ethic is the promise by corporations that I will get paid less for more work. For many years, I ate beans and rice…I still eat ‘em. Embrace simple food…It makes you stronger!!! I am the 99%. Occupy All The Time. The stories above are from We Are the 99 Percent. This selection is the copy ready text from page 44 and 45. The blog currently has 89 pages. The pictures today are from The Library of Congress .