The income of the top 1% grew 275 percent between 1979 and 2007, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The government actively facilitates this concentration of wealth through tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Corporations shift the costs of environmental damage to the public and pocket the profits. Taxpayers bear the risk of global financial speculation while the payoffs go to those most effective at gaming the system, says Julian Zelizer, author of The Truth is Out: The System is Rigged in Favor of the Wealthy.
The Occupy movement hasn’t created a list of demands. The middleclass way of life is moving out of reach. In the United States, twenty-five million people are unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work. Forty-five percent of those without jobs have been unemployed for more than twenty-seven weeks. Some employers won’t hire anyone who is currently unemployed. And many can find no job at all. The system is broken in so many ways that it’s dizzying to try to name them all.
Since the Occupy movement began, some who identify themselves as part of the 99% have been posting their stories at wearethe99percent.tumblr.com. The Web site contains thousands of stories like these from people who have lost their jobs, homes and retirement funds. Now that we know we are not alone, we are less likely to blame ourselves when things are hard. And now that we are seeing the ways the system is rigged against us, we can join with others to demand changes that will allow everyone to thrive.
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