My boyfriend and I are currently living off of his $8.50 an hour pay check.  We barely have enough money to pay rent and bills. I have over $30,000 in college loans that I have to start paying back, but I cannot find a job. We are only asking for a CHANCE at the American Dream. That dream is non-existent for us, it has become a fairy tale. I believed that being the first person in my family to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree would break the cycle of poverty. And he believed that his family’s decision to emigrate here from the Soviet Union was to escape a corrupt system and give him a better future. But then we look at our current situation, and you can imagine our surprise.

We are the 99%