Commentary: On We Are the 99 Percent

By Elizabeth Matte
Creativity + Social Change
University of Connecticut
11 October 2011

After reading the “we are the 99 percent” article my heart sunk into my stomach. I felt saddened and disgusted for these people. But I also didn’t feel alone anymore. I feel like I can relate to a lot of these people. I haven’t really opened up to much in this class but I think I may now.

I recently had a baby and I’m now a single mother. I was working a good job making good money. Then I got pregnant after being told I would never have children. I was a nanny for three children but the family didn’t want me bringing my child to work with me. So my boyfriend (at the time) and I decided I would stay home with the baby. Daycare, well in our area, is basically his whole pay check. So it would be pointless to put my child in daycare and I really didn’t want to do that when I was watching someone else’s children. About a month after my son was born my boyfriend and I broke up. There were a lot of reasons why but I know one reason was because he was so stressed out about having to provide for all of us. So now I am out of a job, living back home and alone. I have an associate’s degree but after coming to UConn I will have student loans I will eventually have to pay off. So I will join that group of students that are in debt.  I honestly didn’t realize how bad things were until after I broke up with my son’s father. I don’t know if it was because I was working a great job, making good money and was pregnant, but I had no idea. I had no idea that there were like no jobs out there because I didn’t have a need to look for a job. Now that I need money I’m finding that the only jobs out there are low paying. (This is a kick in the stomach after being paid so well) And if I got a low paying job all my money would go to daycare, so what’s the point? I’m fortunate enough to having parents that can help me out, but my father was planning on retiring in a few years and I don’t know if he can. I feel horrible because I have a son t take care of and my family has to help me out. I don’t feel like it’s their duty to help support him but that’s how it has to be. My son’s father isn’t really around and barley helps support him. I told my parents I’d rather not go to school so I could work (a second or third shift job) but my family is pushing me to go. I’m worried that, like most people out there, I will have all these college degrees, no job with thousands of dollar loans to pay off.

One of the stories that really struck me was one of a girl that said she had some degrees and was out of work. I guess she was trying to get a job and they told her she was over qualified and inexperienced. I found this really interesting. My mother had the same problem. She retired from an insurance company after working there for like 20 years. She took an early retirement because her boss was basically harassing her and the company didn’t do anything about it. She really couldn’t afford to retire so she tried getting another job at another insurance company but they wouldn’t hire her for a position she wanted, because she was over qualified! I had never heard anything like that and thought it was an excuse. But after see that girl’s story it made it real. I didn’t know you could be overqualified for a job. Wouldn’t that make a person more applicable?

I definitely agree with the people are courageous enough to go stand up to the people on wall-street. But I also feel like it’s not enough. I’m trying to be hopeful and positive for everyone and myself. But I feel like the government and corporations’ have dug such a deep hole that they won’t be able to get us out of it. I don’t know how it could be fixed. I think it’s easy to say “oh just cut back corporate costs, or cut the bosses pay”, but that is really unrealistic. The people that are in charge are simply that, they are in charge. I think they feel that if you don’t like what you’re getting paid they will find someone else. I feel like everyone is made out to be replaceable. And these bosses and companies don’t care about their workers. This same situation happened at my father’s job. He works at Pratt and Whitney and they recently (a few months ago) had big layoffs. They had to lay hundreds off because the CEO’s and people in charge didn’t want to take a pay cut. It was so sad to hear when my dad told me. My dad didn’t lose his job but people he knew did. There were people that had a family that had worked for the company for over 10 years. I’m sure they will be over qualified for the jobs they apply for.

As I was typing this paper, I started chatting with my dad about this article. He was explaining tome and telling me his opinion on it and I also agree with him. He said that the people that are occupying wall-street should be at the White House and protest their policies because it’s their issues and they can do more about it. My dad was saying that Kudlow (who I can’t stand) talk’s about it on his show. I guess he has been covering it a little every night and will continue to cover the story.