http://blogs.wsj.com/...
The above link will lead the reader to a Wall Street Journal Article dated October 19, 2011. The article title is; "What Percent Are You?" and includes a calculator to determine where an income ranks among the 99%.
I wonder how many people like me are not able to show up for Occupy’s 99% events. I am appalled at the apathy among the 99%. I never stop telling everyone I know that they too are part of the 99%.
People I know good-naturedly ridicule me when I talk about this. I admit to them that I feel part of a unified people’s revolution whose time has come. Occupy. They say I whine when I point out that the 99% have been getting the short end of the stick for a long time. They say boo-hoo to me.
It seems ridiculous that I would complain. I am the employee of a huge fortune 500 corporation. The corporation is also one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Yet I boo-hoo about feeling chained to my corporate master's cubicle. I can't get the day off. It sounds like I am whining, right? I certainly am complaining.
I am bound by my risky mortgage, and bankruptcy. I am bound by healthcare costs and student loan debt. I am bound by my union contract with the corporation. The corporation has over 250,000 employees. I am identified by a six digit code. It is my identity.
What is wrong with this picture is that my employer reported consolidated revenue of $124 billion dollars for 2010. The corporation sends jobs off-shore. I would be willing to bet that the people they employ in other countries are paid Very low wages.
I must pass the money I earn to other huge corporations in order to exist. This is what I was raised to believe was the way to "earn" your way in life. Now we call it the "golden handcuffs."
People like me are languishing in meaningless corporate data mines. Obesity and depression, diabetes and anxiety are rampant at the cubicle farm. The poor air quality and crowded conditions of the concrete skyscraper certainly contribute to physical and mental illness, and the other dark side effects of the crowded working conditions.
Our union contract expires in April. I have worked at my job for over 11 years. Each contract gives back more and more of the pay and benefits that we bargained for. Pension funds and benefits are slashed for retirees. For the retirees it amounts to investing 20 or more years of their lives for a pension that the corporation considers a revocable contract. I know I am lucky to have a job, any job. I keep reminding myself that I too am the 99%. If I didn’t have a union contract my employer would flatten me like a cartoon.