Introducing the Other 99%

We are more than an economic percentile

Inspired by the We Are the 99 Percent blog on Tumblr (http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/) on which people post pictures of themselves and their often-heart-wrenching stories, some folks at Occupy Wall Street put together this video.

The video - We Are The 99 Percent - Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves - seeks to help people answer the question, "Am I a member of the 99%?"

"You're somebody who doesn't know whether there's gonna be enough money to make this months' rent."

"You're someone who gets sick and toughs it out."

"You're someone who's trying to move a mountain of debt."

"You do all of the things you're supposed to do."

"You buy store bread. You get a second job. You take classes to improve your skills. But it's just not enough. It's never enough!"

"They say it's all your fault. They are the 1%."

"They need help and get bailed out. We need help and we get nothing and are called 'entitled.'"

"We are the 99%. We are everyone else. It's time the 1% got to know us a little better."

Art Pope laughably asserts he's in the 99%

Multi-millionaire retailer and right-wing sugar daddy / conservative political power-broker, Art Pope, is rightly a target of disdain among Occupy Wall Street supporters in North Carolina. When asked if he thinks of himself as part of the top 1%, Pope told NBC 17, "I don't think so."

As our friends at Art Pope Exposed explain, that's baloney and insults our intelligence:

An analysis by Democracy North Carolina [Excel file] shows that in 2010 alone, Art Pope and his wife Katherine spent $153,748.89 on political contributions to Republican committees and candidates.

In other words, unless the Pope household spends more than 45% of its annual income on campaign contributions, Pope either makes enough each year -- or has enough saved up -- to clear the 1% threshold.

On top of the personal contributions made by Pope and his wife, Pope's privately held business, Variety Wholesalers -- where Art Pope is listed as President, Chairman and CEO -- funneled $556,500 into several outside groups that spent money to help Republicans in 2010.