We Are the 99 Percent

18th October 2011

Photo with 40 notes

I am 35 years old. I have a BA and attended grad school until I had to drop out for financial reasons. I made excellent grades and played by all the rules that “good kids” are supposed to play by to be successful.

I make about 35K and owe 50K in student loans for a Master’s Degree I couldn’t finish.

I have never owned a home and probably never will. I rent a room from a friend. The house is currently underwater and I am afraid he will decide to walk away. I have never lived without roommates.

I have never had a full time job. They have all been “part time” jobs where I work 40+ hours a week, but they don’t want to give me the higher level of benefits.

I hate my job, but I stay and work hard because I know I am lucky to have it. I am one of the privileged few to still have good benefits.

We are expected to do the work of 2 or 3 people and have mandatory overtime every week because they don’t want to hire any more people. I am exhausted all the time. My health has declined due to the stress and I now have to take medications to deal with it.

The company is making near record profits, and our department is directly contributing to the company’s profitability. These profits are not going back to us, they are going to the 1%. Instead, our benefits are getting cut by about 10% due to the “bad economy”.

I know I am one of the lucky ones, because I haven’t lost everything yet.