14 Reasons People Are Occupying Wall Street

"In the past two years I have:

Been foreclosed by B of A after paying on a house of 13 years

Had to drop out of college and cancel my dreams

Lost my gf of two and a half years

Watched as my parents got divorced and moved away

Quit my minimum wage job where the cooks were lowest paid in the state

Decided to fight for freedom and not the American Dream

I am the 99%"

"I have a degree; an Associates of Arts. I stopped there, because I’d nearly exhausted the savings my parents had for me. And by 2008, I’d seen just how far a degree would get me: deep in debt. with little chance to every pay it back. A degree has become little more than pricey slips of paper, mocking us from their frames and envelopes. It took me three and half years to get that slip of paper. I’m one of the lucky ones, with no debt.

But I also have no job. And no dreams, no this is slowly becoming a living nightmare. I had a minimum wage job, in another city, but I couldn’t support myself on $7.94 an hour. We had barely been getting by on two paychecks. Now I’m back in with mu parents, living off their generosity and my own meager savings. I’m applying to every job I can find out here. But so few places are actually hiring, and I am over-educated or under-experienced for nearly all of them. Or both.

I played by the rules. I got good grades, went to college, and got a degree. I graduated in 2009, to no prospects. Nothing for me. Fast food joints don’t even call me back.

I feel HOPELESS. I’m already depressed, untreated. I often find myself thinking of suicide, because I see no future for me. At all. The current reality depresses me more than anything else. There is nothing here for me to work towards. Nothing substantial for any of my friends either.

My best friend is pregnant with their first child. At 7 months pregnant, she lost her job. She has since been rehired, but her insurance won’t pick back up for another 45 days. She’s due in 2 weeks. His family is well off, but they’re not rich. They help, but they can’t support them completely on the medical bills.

So is that what we’re supposed to do now? Live off our parents? All of our parents are stuck as well. They’re torn between their own daily expenses and retirement funds, or supporting their grown children. Again. That is not a desicion they should be forced to make.

We all played by the rules, and we were robbed blind.

We sat back in blissful ignorance, and let them do this to us.

We are the 99 percent.

And we are sick of playing by these Greed-driven rules."