Preview

I Am One of the 99%

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
418 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
I Am One of the 99%
I am one of the 99%
The fact is all but that little 1% is one of the 99%. Does that mean that I need to march down the streets of different cities to tell everyone that I am one of the 99%, camp out for months at a time and take the charity of others, so that I can proclaim the fact that I am like 99% of the nation? I think not.
1% of the world controls most of the money and then the other 99% share in what is left. Between 2002 and 2007, the income of the 1% increased at least 10 times faster than the income of the 99%.
The “Occupy” are proclaiming themselves as a true grassroots movement. By doing this, protesters are claiming they want to bring attention to problems we have in the nation. To me, it is just one big gripe session sit-in; one in which they do not provide any solutions to the problems they are complaining about.
For instance, look at the incident in Oakland, California. Protesters closed the Port; however, then some of them incited a riot which caused lots of property damage to store owners that are part of the 99%. The “Occupy” movement has gone global. There are protesters in London and Ireland with riots breaking out causing all kinds of property damage. Does this really help the cause of the “Occupy”; hurting the pockets of the 99%? I do not see how the “Occupy” is helping any city they come to protest in.
I am not seeing any influx of money to the cities. As it stands, I am seeing rioting, property destruction, and charity being given to the protesters that could help the less fortunate of the city. By inciting a riot causing property damage, they caused businesses to pay money for repairs and incurred lost of income by having to be shut down. This was money that these small businesses couldn’t afford.
I believe in practicing our civil rights; however, any protest should be peaceful and follow the guidelines within the law. We do have problems with our economy. We do need change. I’m not sure that camping out is the way to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Occupy movements have sprung up all over the world because citizens are fed up with their countries current situation and believe a real change can be achieved through the coordination of non violent actions and self-managed alternatives. They believe for example; that another world is possible, where nobody has to die of hunger while others throw food away.…

    • 1947 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yes, it is a legitimate for of civil disobedience. This has been around since the founding fathers and the Boston Tea Party.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Occupy Wall Street was a protest movement that took place in Zuccotti Park in New York City’s Wall Street financial district. “we are the 99%” was their slogan, they believed that the wealthy few should no longer decide the future of the country as a hole. One of their believes was that every person should be involved in the decision making and for this reason the movement never achieved the necessary organization to establish a good list of demands. Every person affiliated with the movement had different believes and aspirations for the result of the protest. Two weeks passed by until the movement really picked up, that was, until abuse and mass arrests from the New York Police Department attracted media attention. Liberal groups, students, unions, and organizations all over the country began to join the Occupy movement making it a Nation Wide protest.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is shown in the fact that 68.7 percent of the world’s population only holds three percent of the wealth in the world and only 8.4 percent of the world’s population has 83.3 percent of the wealth of the world (Doc 6). The 68.7 percent of the world with the least amount of money often works in factories for very low wages, these factories being owned by the most wealthy. This relates to how those who get ahead have to step on others, with the wealthy exploiting the poor for their wealth.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The definition of a protest is a statement or an action that expresses disapproval or objection of something. Of the three that we went over in class; Socrates, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, the one whose position is the most effective in protesting and showing that he does not approve of the current way of living, is Malcolm X. Malcolm X has a no nonsense attitude about what to do with an unjust law or situation. He uses the “any means necessary” approach to the situation where he believes that you not only can, but also must do anything and everything you can possibly do to get what you need as opposed to the other means of protesting from Socrates, persuasion, and Dr. King, non-violent direct action. The views from each of these…

    • 1978 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    With nearly 99% of America’s wealth going to the top 1% (or estimated to be by 2016), how can there be even the slightest argument for a peaceful nation where all are intermingled in a way that creates equality? The proven statistic of America’s wealth distribution is not equal to any other developed country of the same stature. There’s even more proof and evidence for the “So clear it shouldn’t have to be proven“ wealth inequality in America. Using a scale called the Gini coefficient to calculate wealth inequality the results were (not exactly) surprising, “[The Gini coefficient is] a measure of inequality in which 0 is perfect equality and 100 perfect inequality. It found that the U.S. had the greatest wealth inequality, with a score of 80.56” (Sherman). A nation with a significant divide such as wealth inequality - and thus the lack of the wealth going to the majority- cannot possibly be perfect, just, or…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the natural factor of privileged people and the undeniable fact that the distribution of wealth is…

    • 1047 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the “American Dream,” where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension from even before the French Revolution and spawns numerous other social issues in a society. In the more recent Occupy Movement, beginning in 2011, protesters used income inequality as a motive. Moreover, they were justified in doing so. In a 2010 statistic, it was revealed that the top 1% of America, own 35% of the wealth while the lower 80%, over the majority of the population, only have 11% of the nation’s wealth distributed between them. Financially the situation is even worse where the bottom 80% own only 5% of the financial wealth and the top 1% own 42% of the Nation’s financial wealth. Not to say the top 1% didn’t work hard to get to where they are, but according to the ideals of the “American Dream,” the top 1% should have worked 243 times harder than the average, not the poorest, worker in America. This extreme of disproportional wealth distribution is not only a source of social conflict, but a catalyst for various other problems that exist.…

    • 1528 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Action can take many forms. Action can be physical, verbal, or silent. In recent years, protesters took to the streets in opposition to the government bailout of Wall Street. The protesters assumed the name of the 99 Percent. The 99 Percent marched through the streets shouting down the Wall Street bankers, but their main weapon was not the megaphone, it was ‘silent occupation.’ Soon, this action became known as Occupy Wall Street. The goal of the Occupy movement was to show the wealthy bankers that they were not going to get away with their crimes and get a free handout from the taxpayers. As a result, the politicians on Capitol Hill listened and began to implement a wider set of reforms and consumer protections.…

    • 768 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    DISCUSSIONS

    • 8839 Words
    • 23 Pages

    Every person in the U.S. has the right to engage in a protest. The protest should be done in a peaceful matter. The constitution protects every person regardless their immigration status. Although undocumented people don’t partake of all the rights granted to United States citizens (vote, etc.), they do enjoy the benefit of the First Amendment that gives them the right of freedom of speech.…

    • 8839 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In conclusion, as a first generation immigrant I could protest that the process of immigration is not easy on any individual. We do not move because we have too, honestly nobody would want to leave the people and things they are familiar with and move to another country. However, we do these things in search of a new life, better education, seeking safety or better jobs. Immigration is never easy on the individual no matter how much time goes by, eventually you learn to cope in order to survive. During the process, many people face mental illness, severe depression, anxiety and stress.…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inequality for All

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The film “Inequality for All” tries to explain; what is the current status of the distribution of wealth and that of income equality? Why this is happening and if this is a problem. Yes, as stated in the film, social inequality is inevitable. But, there is without a doubt a problem with United States distribution of wealth. One of the facts that really opened my eyes was the fact that the 400 richest Americans, together hold more wealth than the poorest 150 million Americans have together. This said, it is scary to think about how obscure was the knowledge we had on the one percent with given how much economic influence they have.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Income Inequality

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Stiglitz, Joseph. “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%” Vanity Fair May 2011.…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all know that America has good people and bad people, kind hearted people and cold hearted people. However, we can all work together to make it a greater place for each and every race and gender. This is the real life pursuit of happiness. People come here for a greater lifestyle. People shouldn’t try and protest illegal immigration because they might not have a choice but to come here. Their life from where they came from might have been horrible. Way worse than regular poverty in America.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe that society is held together by social consensus, or cohesion, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. The lopsided growth in U.S. incomes observed between 1979 and 2007 resulted in a rise in every state in the top 1 percent’s share of income. This rise in income inequality represents a sharp reversal of the patterns of income growth that prevailed in the half century following the beginning of the Great Depression; the share of income held by the top 1 percent declined in every state but one between 1928 and…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays