wearethe99percent.com....are the stories even real?

• Jawbreaker

  sonofsam;933021 wrote:This IS America today people... Until we stand up against the government, the banks, and the rich, keep printing your story. I'm ready, but ONE person can't make the difference. America can.

  America today? Really? There hasn't always been rich and poor people in this country?
  
  I guess this is a matter of perspective. Isn't the majority of the people in this country richer than 99% of the world?
• LJ

  

  Like one of the great shows of our time once said "every society needs gods and clods. Some people are meant to be gods, some are meant to be clods"
• Con_Alma

  ManO'War;933161 wrote:...
  
  You are not guaranteed anything in life.
  
  Having a job is a contract between the employer, who needs a service, and the employee, who is providing that service. Nothing more.
  
  And another pet peeve of mine is people who think that businesses are created to give people jobs. Businesses are created to make money for the owner/shareholders. The jobs provided is just a by product. If I could start a business and have it totally automated, therefore eliminating paying salaries, then I would.

  applause, applause.
  
  It's shocking to me that the obvious needs to be stated today.
• Glory Days

  

  there are thousands of jobs down south available right now. however they involve manual labor and arent great paying. something these hippies wont do.....and thats why the mexicans work those jobs.
• OSH

  

  Commander of Awesome;932858 wrote:Its because you're still in ohio. Time to move imo.

  I moved to Ohio because of my current degree/job -- working for my degree.
  
  I was in South Dakota before. And before South Dakota, I was in Kentucky. I applied to jobs all over the United States. Both interviews I had was in Ohio (the 9-month position that I got shot down for AND the current one I'm in). So your assumption doesn't work. I have had less success outside of Ohio than I have had in Ohio.
• ManO'War

  

  Change fields then.
• OSH

  

  ManO'War;933210 wrote:Change fields then.

  I did. My first Master's is different from my undergrad. This Master's is different from my first Master's.
  
  The good thing is, this Master's and my previous Master's compliment each other. I'm actually not too disappointed with my current situation though. I got a nice pay raise from what I had previously. I am closer to family (my family and my in-laws). My wife is happy. She's working some part-time jobs. Overall, it's not HORRIBLE...just not exactly a full-time job like I'd like.
  
  My career is extremely competitive and political. I can live off of nothing, have been since 2008. Our current situation is not awful. Just not what I really want (like a house and a more concrete future). I'll buy my time. It'll pay off. I'll work a couple of crap situations if I have to in order to get where I want (and where my wife wants).
• Manhattan Buckeye

  Completely believe it, my first job we had a woman a couple of years ahead of me with a degree from the H word school with a complete BS graduate (not bachelor's of science) degree in X studies....woman couldn't even chew gum and tie her shoes at the same time. She was very nice but the fact was she couldn't do the work.
• gut

  I think what might be most disheartening about those posts is all the people APOLOGIZING for working hard and having a job. "I'm lucky", as if it's just random chance. Bullshit, there is no such thing. You make your own luck.
  
  I'm not saying it doesn't take time, or that everyone out of work is being lazy or immobile or taking the wrong approach...but certainly if you allow yourself to become specialized (read: lacking transferable skills) in a dying industry you are setting yourself up to be "unlucky" in the future.
• Wildcat24

  

  
  
  At the Chicago Board of Trade.
  
  
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  sonofsam;933021 wrote:This IS America today people... Until we stand up against the government, the banks, and the rich, keep printing your story. I'm ready, but ONE person can't make the difference. America can.

  This is known as a coup. Sounds like you're part of the tea party, would you like every state to be an independent entity?
• jmog

  I am in the 99% by income level, but apparently I am in the 1% by mentality of how the system should work.
  
  I am the 53% that actually pays income taxes...how is that? .
• LJ

  

  jmog;933365 wrote:I am in the 99% by income level, but apparently I am in the 1% by mentality of how the system should work.
  
  I am the 53% that actually pays income taxes...how is that? .

  There is a "I am the 53%" movement online
• Midstate01

  

  I think there are careers out there that are just not hiring. That being said, I gotta believe a lot of the reason people, mainly these people, don't find jobs is because they are lazy in looking. They probably don't want to leave a certain area. Or aren't looking through the right channels. Also, it seems companies sometimes go for the experience over the new degree.
  
  My wife is in the USAF, so we are moving every fee years. I've been able to find work pretty easily. Sent my resume out to anyone and everyone. I have no degree in computer programming but did it for 7 years at my old job by working my way up the ladder. Now I've been able to find jobs with my experience over a degree on both of our relocations.
  
  I just dont think people try hard enough to look for work. They want something to magically happen for them.
• bases_loaded

  

  We have a right to an education but a responsibility to pay for it. Also the responsibility to pick a field that we are either needed in or that we can make a career in. All these people need to look in the mirror
• ManO'War

  

  They think that just because they have some degree from such and such university that employers should beg them to work for them and shower them with large sums of money.
• gut

  I had a boss tell me one time about an HBS grad he'd just interviewed. Says at the end of the interview when he asks if there are any questions, the guy goes "Soooo...If I take this job, how long before I'll be running this place?" ==> DING
  
  That mentality probably applies to at least a few of these people. They feel entitled because of their degree or GPA and probably have unrealistic expectations. Or their interview skills are atrocious. There are companies out there hiring, and while there are not enough jobs to go around, there is also plenty of turnover and transition creating positions that need backfilled. So opportunities are out there.
• FatHobbit

  

  ManO'War;933383 wrote:They think that just because they have some degree from such and such university that employers should beg them to work for them and shower them with large sums of money.

  I remember when I went to college they talked to us about different career paths and how much you can make with each one. They told us the average starting salaries and I remember thinking surely I'm smarter than half the idiots I'm going to school with. When I graduated and interviewed with five or six different companies I remember thinking where the hell is all the money they promised me? Lol
• gut

  LJ;933371 wrote:There is a "I am the 53%" movement online

  The people paying above 20% effective income taxes are the only ones who truly have a right to bitch. If you pay a smaller percentage than Buffett, you honestly don't have a basis to bitch. And if you aren't paying anything, those of us who do are already subsidizing your income/lifestyle, so what you are really saying is not that the rich aren't paying their fair share, but that the govt should take more from them to give to you. And that's just plain un-American.
  
  I don't oppose taxing the rich more because I'm part of the 1%, I oppose it because I know we'll never fund the deficit by soaking the rich and continued massive deficits are only going to result in my paying higher taxes and a decline in my standard of living (that's going to apply to everyone, by the way - poor, rich or otherwise). I oppose it because I know this class warfare argument is only obfuscating the facts and will exacerbate, rather than fix, the real problems.
• LJ

  

  FatHobbit;933393 wrote:I remember when I went to college they talked to us about different career paths and how much you can make with each one. They told us the average starting salaries and I remember thinking surely I'm smarter than half the idiots I'm going to school with. When I graduated and interviewed with five or six different companies I remember thinking where the hell is all the money they promised me? Lol

  You should see how much they lie to vet students about how much they will make when they graduate.
• fan_from_texas

  I believe most of the stories. The question is whether we should care. I mean, so someone takes out $100K in student loans to major in Religious Studies. Why is it the fault of Wall Street that the person can't get a job?
  
  I have some sympathy for 18-year-olds who have been fed crap by their parents/guidance counselors about "doing what they love" and then actually took that advice . . . but part of the blame should lie with the schools that extended them outrageous student loans that can't be discharged in bankruptcy.
• Pick6

  

  If I chose what I love, I would of picked sports management.
  Instead I chose something smart, that I still had an interest in, is a degree in demand, and is flexible. Accounting.
• gorocks99

  

  Pick6;933426 wrote:If I chose what I love, I would of picked sports management.
  Instead I chose something smart, that I still had an interest in, is a degree in demand, and is flexible. Accounting.

  [video=youtube;XMOmB1q8W4Y][/video]
• fan_from_texas

  Pick6;933426 wrote:If I chose what I love, I would of picked sports management.
  Instead I chose something smart, that I still had an interest in, is a degree in demand, and is flexible. Accounting.

  Right--you made a good decision, and you should be applauded for it. My concern is that our nansy-pansy boomer parents have been saying for years that people should follow their dreams and do what they love, without worrying about money. Many people took their parents' advice and now find out that it was pretty crappy advice (to the tune of $150K in debt for a BFA in music with no job prospects). It's tough to completely blame high school seniors for following parental/guidance counselor/college advice.
• DeadliestWarrior34

  

  I figured with everyone on here that ran 4.5 40's, got 30's on their ACTs, and make +100k a year we'd have more of the 1% on here.