99% of people: 10/19 We Are the 99 Percent

We Are the 99 Percent

There are a lot of us that are too sick to act or too poor to...

October 18, 2012 at 12:28 PM

There are a lot of us that are too sick to act or too poor to support but, I wouldn't want to see this happen to a fellow citizen.

OccupyWallSt.org

I am Jacob Gourley age 19 and recently graduated from high...

October 18, 2012 at 12:28 PM

I am Jacob Gourley age 19 and recently graduated from high school in Michigan and I have a wonderful woman who cares for me and we want a family together a house and just to be normal nobody special just to be somebody. I can not find work I am in college and tried to apply for food stamps they say I do not qualify for them because I attend college. My dad does not understand he is disabled and gets his checks and tells me if you don't find a job soon I am going to stop paying for your phone bill and you have to move out you can not live here forever. He also says If I could work I would have a job in less than a week. I cry for everyone I pray that we the poor never loose hope no matter how bad it gets. My girlfriend who is 18 is almost done with school she is worried about the future of us as well. I help a friend out on a paper route making $10 a week $40 a month what is this to pay a phone bill that is $60 a month I am at the library using a computer. I am scared and feel alone and if it were not for my girlfriend I would be dead. I have done dozens of applications, phone calls, and submitting hundreds of applications online and after 4 months not one call. My dad thinks I am scared to work I am not I want to work. I beg this younger generation to wait to have kids because the economy is so bad. I want freedom, life, liberty, and most of all the pursuit of happiness. I barely have life, almost no liberty's but one thing I want most is happiness. I believe love is more valuable than money. The 99% is 6,930,000,000 people strong and counting. I am the 99%.

After enrolling in a honors program at a private college, my...

October 18, 2012 at 12:26 PM

After enrolling in a honors program at a private college, my parents went bankrupt when my father lost his business in the crash of the Michigan economy. My parents divorced and I was estranged from my family.

I lived in Chicago where rent for a college student is $500/month. Add rood and utilities and I had no money left. I had no health insurance and "slept off" bronchitis. I just recently paid off the medical bills I had from the one time I needed to pay out of pocket for an emergency and just did not have the money. I could not afford a text book 3/4 of the years I was in college and read them at the bookstore in between class (5:45-9pm) and work (7am-5pm) (that is 14 hour day of work, 6 days a week, without homework or travel included in that)

I worked and went to school full-time. I made my classes. Never missed work, and did extra.

I out read, out worked and out energized my peers, without a community of people I knew or trusted. They could not have helped me if they had wanted to.

I am 28. I make well over $100,000/year and pay down the $60K of debt I took out as a 18 year old with no cosigner for my loans ($500/month). I have worked my ass off, stayed inspired and made smart choices when I wanted to give up.

I am the 2% after living on corn flakes & water, and my own ambition- I stand with the 99% and say do not give up!