Protests have swept the United States. The Protesters are calling themselves “The 99%.” In the past few years 99% of the population’s annual income dropped. Yet the “1%”s income rose by the same amount the others lost. 1% of the population of the United States of America, according to a report by ABC News, makes an annual income of $380,354 or more a years and hold 35.6 percent of the nation’s wealth.
The wealthy are becoming wealthier and the poor are becoming poorer.
The main cause of these income drops was the recession of 2008 when the housing market crashed. However, it wasn’t just the housing market that was an issue.
These protesters believe that it is unlawful that these corporate fat cats are becoming wealthier while the poor and middle class struggle to make ends meet. We are in a state of concurrence with the protesters.
The Occupy Wall street movement originated in New York, Zuccotti Park, the main base of operations. Thousands of arrests have been made with slap-on-the-wrist charges such as blocking a public roadway and disorderly conduct. These are misdemeanor crimes.
The NYPD hoped these arrests would slow the protests growth. It has in fact done the exact opposite. Protesting has not only spread coast to coast, but country to country covering a wide variety of issues.
There are other locations being “occupied” such as “Occupy Boston” and “Occupy Orlando.” On October 15, 2011 Times Square was shut down due to thousands of protesters mixed with daily commuters and tourist filling up the area.
Many news corporations have claimed that the protesters are just a bunch of “Trust fund punks that are bored.” However, what they fail to tell you is that the protesters have had their children present and the age range spans all the way up to retirees.
In an article written by Joshua Carroll, he states that “The tax plan is set and stone.” He implies that these protests strictly have to do with taxes. In these protests taxes are not the focus. He also states “But more importantly they are protesting against the major gap between the rich and the poor.”
It isn’t about the rich and the poor at all. Sure the 1 percent is rich, but the 99 percent aren’t protesting individual people. People who earn their money deserve it, but they focus on the fact corporations and businessmen are getting all of this government aid in, which they do not deserve at all. They were bailed out, and how did this benefit you as the taxpayer?
Take Bank of America for example. Less than two years after being bailed out with YOUR MONEY, they are now charging extra monthly fees. So the bailout of Bank of America is in no way benefitting you. A branch in Times Square wouldn’t even let people take their money and close their account because they were protesting against them. That is absurd.
Carroll also states in the article, “If you’re not making the money you need to be, then it’s your own fault and you don’t need to be blaming the government or causing a protest on Wall Street.” When someone becomes unemployed because they got laid off due to money issues within the company, then that is in no way their fault. They should not be criticized just because their job was expendable.
These people aren’t even focused on blaming the government entirely. The issue is much bigger than that.
Occupy Wall Street has been active for over a month and there isn’t any plans to stop now. America is going to see changes. Many people have had different opinions about change saying that it can be good and bad. It all depends on the subject and situation. This movement revolves around change.
The protesters have a fuzzy agenda, but they are on the right track. People talk about doing things, but nobody executes the plan. These protesters are executing their plans. They are taking action and doing what they believe is right.
America as a whole can’t seem to get their priorities straight either. It seems like some people wake up and point fingers to other people hoping that our anger will magically solve all of our problems.
Occupy Wall Street is made out to sound like it is only the “99%” that supports the protest. This is false, and numerous supporters of the protests are actually apart of the one percent.
Russell Simmons is one of these supporters. An issue of cleaning Zuccotti Park was brought up in early October. The owners of the park wanted the protestors to leave so the park could be cleaned. The protestors saw this as a scheme by the NYPD to shut them down. Simmons offered to pay for the cleanup so it wouldn’t be city business and the protestors could stay. It worked and they got to stay. It wasn’t just because of the generous offer, but it helped.
Occupy Wall Street is a sign that something does need to be done, but now it’s up to lawmakers to do something about it.
The protestors and I propose free and fair elections that are publicly funded. No corporate money should be involved with elections. There should also be televised, public investigations regarding why certain private institutions were bailed out using taxpayer money. We should also be told how we as the taxpayer are benefitting from these institutions bailout.
These are just a few of the things we should be entitled to as the taxpaying United States citizen. I fully support the goals of this movement and the people partaking in the protests.
