Misrepresenting the 99%

Dear Editor:

As one of the so called "jokers" who participated in the Occupy Spokane protest on Saturday, Oct. 15,I would like to shed some light on the perspective of the 99 percent. From my experience reading signs, talking with people and marching— most do not blame the entire economic downturn on the 1 percent. The people of the Occupy Wall Street movement bring their own individualized grievances to the protest. The crumbling of the system has been many years in the making and we all have contributed. But continuing to tax members of the population who are at or below poverty level, unemployed, receiving social security, those who are using their credit cards because they do not have enough money to provide for their families, and who bought a house because some loan broker fudged their loan application—why should they be held most responsible? The Opinion Editors said it best, "All 100 percent of this fine nation needs to work as a whole to fix what we all have broken." Yes, that is true. We are all responsible, but can we help it that the top 1 percent have slightly more economic resources available? Resources that could create actual change, increase job availability, lower tax rates on those who are barely making ends meet, and the ability to weed the greedy people out of power positions. The Occupy Wall Street movement is not pointing fingers, but calling out members of the United States to raise awareness to injustices, through marching in peaceful protests and proclaiming our beliefs guaranteed by the freedom of speech.

Thank you,

Marissa Harvey