The 99 percent

"We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent."

So I have done little research on the Wall Street protests but googled "the 99 percent" and visited a website. The above quote was found on third website listed on Google under the "about us" section. I have a bit of a problem with these people. Let's take it line by line perhaps, so I can tell you why.

"We are getting kicked out of our houses."

Really? The government is coming to your home unexpectedly and without reason? Are people just showing up and telling you to get out? A hostile take over? No reason? A violation of the fourth amendment? Or is because you defaulted on a loan? Didn't make payments? Took on more than you can handle? Lived past your means perhaps? You are not in some communist country where they say "Get out" and you get because they say so. In America, there has gotta be a reason you are losing your home.

"We are forced to choose between groceries and rent."

Now this I do believe happens in the US. I don't believe it happens to 99% of us but it does happen. Alas, a lot of these people choosing between groceries and rent may also have a smart phone, cable TV, a nice car or designer clothing.

"We are denied quality medical care."

Bull. You mean to tell me that you cannot get quality medical? I have worked all over the nation as a traveling nurse. I have worked in inner city hospitals, hospitals in rich areas, community hospitals and everything in between. I cannot believe you are denied quality medical care. It's illegal at a hospital to turn someone away. In addition this isn't some third world country where there is no access to good care. Where you sleep on the ground outside a clinic for four days to be seen by a nurse in hopes of eventually seeing a doctor. Where they reuse dirty needles, where sterile procedures are a joke and where if your family doesn't bring you food, you don't eat. I don't believe it.

"We are suffering from environmental pollution."

Have you ever seen the lungs of a 20 year old Chinese citizen who lives near a coal burning factory? Or the Indian children born downstream of a chemical plant? Or have you seen it snow brown and black from filthy air? Where is your suffering? Because to be perfectly honest, Americans have it good as far as pollution is concerned. Perhaps it is your definition of "suffering' that has me confused.

"We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we're working at all."

A sweat shop worker is an example of someone with no rights. The large percentage of legal residents working in the US have rights. Plenty of them. You aren't chained to your desk, your grill/fryer, your barista station. You receive breaks, days off, a paycheck and insurance up to a point. Migrant worked, sweat shop residents, and illegals have far less rights. Once again I deny that it is the 99 percent.

So, to come to a conclusion, I am sorry you thought college was the key to everything, that you are losing your house and your job. You are not the only one, you are not 99 percent, and some of us are to busy at our jobs to protest on Wall Street. Personally I think I am blessed to be in America even with the economic problems.