1. JOBS
A. My husband was laid off in 2008 (right after our child was born) and we had to relocate here to Memphis because we could not find a job in the area.
B. I have a B.S. degree and a M.A. degree and I am still unemployed. There is no one hiring..... and when they are and I apply, I'm not considered because I'm over qualified.

2. HEALTH CARE
A. I have both health and dental insurance; however, I have had to pay 5,000 out of pocket in the last two years for dental needs. It actually got to the point on several occasions where I had to think "food for the house or a trip to the dentist to end this horrific pain".
B. Last week my entire family (me, my husband, and my child) went to the doctor and it cost us $90 ($30 pp) in co-pays and $50 in prescriptions.
Plus they want to see all of us back in two weeks to see if my husband and I are experiencing the same health issues and if the meds are working and to give my son the 2nd part of his flu shot. Which means it will cost us at least another $90.

So in summary we have already gone from a 2 income family to a 1 income family immediately after the birth of our son. We struggle daily to make ends meet....living paycheck to paycheck and off credit cards (when no cash is available for a real need). And it just kills me that we are now living like this with no help available because according to the government we make too much for government aid and I didn't qualify for unemployment because I willingly left my job to relocate so that my husband would have work. And to top it all off we are still stuck with $102,312 in student loan debt (and that's just mine).

I am one of the 99%. I was laid off 5 years ago (on my birthday) after a 25 year career as a scientist. Since then, I have worked a series of part-time, temporary jobs, from administrative assistant to substitute teacher at salaries less than half of what I used to make. I was blessed, when my house entered foreclosure, to have an anonymous angel come forward & pay it off. My challenge now is to keep the city & county from taking for back taxes. I have steady work (so far), but not many hours & the pay is not great. I cannot pay all of the arrears right now for 2009, so on Oct. 28, I have to go to court to fight to keep my house, while many businesses & people more well-off than me are being given a pass. It is time for the 1% to pay their fair share so the 99% of us are not forced to pay our share & theirs too.

My mother has bipolar schizophrenia.  Before the federal healthcare bill, her insurance was fully covered under disability and state insurance. She was in good health for over ten years, and the year before obama care, she relapsed because of a blood clot that traveled from her leg into her lungs, which i think has a connection with the FSC switch in commercial tobacco. State insurance covered her Med costs, and her lakeside costs. A year later after partially recovering she relapsed, again, and this time she checked herself into lakeside, but they said that she had run out of psychiatric credits, and that they couldn't admit her there, and instead they sent her to the med, where they charge against her medical credits, which she is almost out of, and make her pay partially. ironically her portion of the payment is more than half of her disability. The governments hand is corrupt and is destroying the people.

when i started college i didnt know what i was going to do, i was told i needed to go because i was "Smart.." after 2 years, i decided im gonna be a teacher. so, i changed my major and continued on to a university. i quickly realized that i wasnt going to be able to finish due to the price of tuition and my mounting debt(quite small at this point). upon telling my family of my decision, i was told just keep going, dont worry about money.. well i couldnt keep goin if i couldnt pay. i had the bright idea to join the army reserve... got in rotc and all that. I loved it. i was preparing to do what i feel destined to do, and i was getting good. i like to smoke pot, and that eventually caught up to me. i failed a test. a test, mind you, that some were not subject to due to undisclosed reasons.. anyway, no more rotc, college money, etc. i immediately told my unit i need to go on active duty. that in the situation i am in, i wont be able to quit smoking pot. that if i was going to continue in the army i needed to leave the situation. nogo.. after i finished my punishment i went to them again about active duty. they said they needed me too much. in a reserve unit that was about 90% worthless, that has been deployed nor are they deployable, they didnt want to get rid of the only lower rank soldier that could actually handle his business. after about a year more i just quit goin. meanwhile i had changed my major to allow me to graduate sooner with a somewhat meaningless degree so i could begin my military career, adding another year to the amount of money i owe. after changing back to education, it was about a year before funding started getting cut. when they started firing teachers i decided that i need to go to work. so i did, and here i am, up to my neck in debt because of a law governing a plant. now im not saying that i made perfect decisions thoughout, and that my plight is not a great deal my own fault, but things would be very different for me if they had not prohibited mj, or if they had not cut funding for education, or if we didnt live in a society where people are so used to living in debt that they think its ok to be in debt... i could go on....

My wife and I have three children.  Of the three, one has Autism and one has Shwachman Diamond Syndrome.  In 2005, our insurance premiums were raised to more than our mortgage each month.  In addition, our 401K was depleted when the market crashed.  We are a one-income family struggling to make ends meet.  While corporations make money and enjoy additional tax breaks, we struggle.  While Congress debates the jobs act and social programs, we struggle.  We simply believe that corporate America needs to remember that there is never truly a self-made company or a self-made billionaire.  It takes the labor of many and the support of many more to get anywhere.  When you're in the top 1%, remember that it's the other 99% that got you there.

Can't afford eye surgeries but doctors do 20-30 per day, why can't they do payments poor people can afford? Greed---?

I am not asking for a hand out. I just want to be able to work off my debt - and I'm not talking about the house, the car or the credit cards. Do something about the Student Loans!

I realize that I'm not as bad as off as A LOT of people out there. I just want some reprieve. I want to be able to access my 401(k) money if the stock market continues to crash. I feel like it should be my decision how that money is spent - on stocks or on my debt. I WANT somebody to understand that I and others in my situation cannot continue down this path - mortgages, credit cards, car payments and a job that pays not nearly enough for all the work done. We shouldn't just be occupying Wall Street but we should be on Capital Hill as well.

My family is just one of the 99%

We are a one income household.  We live paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes those checks aren't enough.  We can't afford to pay daycare for 2 kids so I can work.  We can't afford our sons diabetes supplies and medications.  We can't afford for my husband to take a day off work or get sick.  We have no savings, no emergency fund, no 401k to look forward to.  But we make too much to get state aid.  We rely on help from family and friends to make ends meet.

We want our government to work and fight harder for us.  We want our government to recognize the faults in its system.  We want our government to be accountable for its actions.  We want our government to stop letting corporations pay them off for a more favorable outcome.  We want a fair living wage.  We want affordable healthcare for everyone.  We want change.

We are the 99%

I was fired two days after I was referred to a neurosurgeon by my general practitioner for a serious spinal injury. I was robbed by Disney. Even though I was number three in a ranking of about 100 agents, they said that they had to terminate me because I "sighed during a phone call." Even though I had never had any disciplinary action. Even though every time I was addressed about my performance, I was told I was full of magic and a huge asset to the Disney family. Even though I was there with a bachelor's in English and the work I performed was half writing. Even though every single thing I wrote was in perfect MLA grammatical form. Now, I've got no health insurance and income from freelance writing is the only income I have. I need physical therapy and maybe surgery. I am Agent xxxxx, and I was robbed of my only access to healthcare. I was robbed of money, health, and peace of mind. I was robbed by the Disney Corporation and all the entities allowing these practices. And I will not go quietly.