Occupy Wall St.

There’s something all too familiar about this kind of protest. I can recall the teach-ins of the 60’s; the Act-Up planning meetings of the 80’s. This is the beginning of a movement, one that possibly could be the left-liberal-progressive answer to the Tea Party. Different from them, this is truly a grass roots movement oriented effort, not one funded and organized with Republican funds.

We are the 99%. There is the one percent that owns 50% of all the wealth in America. The richest American people and corporations pay the lowest percentage of tax rates due to tax loopholes and deductions not available for people of lesser means. These are the people defined by the conservatives as so-called “job creators.” What they are right now are economy destroyers. They are sitting on loads of money that could be used to create jobs, but rather than allow Pres. Obama any positive economic improvement before the elections, they are sitting on their money.

We are the 99%. Many of us in this category don’t accept that reality, and vote for Republicans. They are listening to the completely fallacious and empty rhetoric of a group of oligarchs who wish to have a free reign to make maximum profits while lowering the standard of living of us who are in the 99% of American workers. This is demonstrated even now, when Texas was the creator of the most jobs in this downturned economy. Most of those jobs are minimum wage jobs.

Texas and Mississippi have the highest percentage of minimum wage workers, according to CNN news. U. S. Department of Labor indicates that the current Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. For a person employed 40 hours weekly, this comes to $290.00; $15,080.00 annually. I have no idea what the standard of living is in Texas, but for us in Massachusetts one could not survive on this salary with a wife and even one child.

Here in Massachusetts, we have a minimum wage set at $8.00 hour, for which the total annual income is $16,640.00. Not much better. Most households who have minimum wage earners rely on them either for one half of the total household income; many rely on this one income earner only.

We are the 99%. How do we convince the country that this level of pay is difficult to live on and impossible to improve one’s life or that of a family?  Is capitalism a fair means to determine the income worth of an individual? Would the expectation be that if there was no minimum hourly rate that the rate would go down or up? You can be sure that the amount of pay would go down to the least possible amount to pay an individual within that job market for that work.

Why will the hourly rate go down without federal minimums? We can see the evidence in how the jobs that were located here have been located “off shore.” For corporations, however, there is no “off shore”. Corporations may be registered here in America, but with globalization, their viewpoint has changed drastically. We cannot depend on supposedly American corporations to act with the best interests of America’s economy. As far as corporations go, we are not all in this together.

This change has not resonated with the heart and soul of Americans. Many are deluded into believing that government is the problem and that corporations exist to fix problems especially involving the economy. It is astounding that with all that Pres. Obama did or didn’t do in his first two years, it was the extension of health care benefits to cover most Americans that caused the teapot to boil over.

Yet, the beginning phase of the Affordable Health Care Law saw no substantial increase in federal expenditures on health insurance. Two changes alone brought about significant improvements in the number of people covered. One was the portion of the bill that allowed parents to continue to keep their adult children on their insurance policies until they were 26 years old. The second change is the guarantee of health care for all children below the age of 18.

You and I are the 99%. Support the Occupy Wall St. and Occupy Boston efforts through contributions. Various kinds are needed from cash to bedrolls; Google their websites. Come to your senses. Unless we can change the basic structure of taxes and wages in the country, welcome to the “New” Mexico.