We are the 99%

[8] Mainstream media sources trace the origin of the phrase to economist Joseph Stiglitz's May 2011 article "Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" in Vanity Fair, in which he was criticizing the economic inequality present in the United States.

[14] Even further back, historian Howard Zinn used this concept in "The Coming Revolt of the Guards", the final chapter in the first edition of his book A People's History of the United States published in 1980.

"[16] The 1960 novel Too Many Clients by Rex Stout, part of the Nero Wolfe mystery series, refers to the top two percent: "I know a chairman of the board of a billion-dollar corporation, one of the 2 per cent, [sic] who never gets his shoes shined and shaves three times a week.

"[17] The first mention of the concept may very well be found in a poster (circa 1935) advertising the newspaper created by the populist Louisiana politician Huey Long called The American Progress.

"[35] With market uncertainty due to fears of a double-dip recession[36] and the downgrade of the US credit rating in the summer of 2011, the topics of how much the rich pay in taxes[37] and how to solve the nation's economic crisis dominated media commentary.

This immediately led to public statements by House Speaker John Boehner,[39] President Obama,[39] and Republican Mitt Romney[40] over whether the Democrats were fomenting "class warfare".

[41] In November 2011 economist Paul Krugman wrote, that the We are the 99% slogan "correctly defines the issue as being the middle class versus the elite and also gets past the common but wrong notion that rising inequality is mainly about the well-educated doing better than the less educated."

[42] CNBC senior markets writer Jeff Cox reacted negatively to the protest movement,[43] calling the 1% are "the most vilified members of American society" who protesters fail to realize includes not only corporate CEOs (31% of the top earning one percent), bankers and stock traders (13.9%), but also doctors (1.85%), real estate professionals (3.2%), entertainers in arts, media and sports (1.6%), professors and scientists (1.8%), lawyers (1.22%), farmers and ranchers (0.5%), and pilots (0.2%).

[43] Josh Barro of National Review offered similar arguments, asserting that the 1% includes those with incomes beginning at $593,000, which would exclude most Wall Street bankers.

Democrats have offered "cautious support", using the "99%" slogan to argue for the passage of President Obama's jobs act, Internet access rules, voter identification laws, mine safety, and other issues.

"We are the 99%" poster referencing the Polish Solidarity movement
Occupy Wall Street poster, September 2011
Protesters with the "99%" T-shirts at Occupy Wall Street on November 17, 2011 near the New York City Hall
Joseph Stiglitz
Graph by sociologist Lane Kenworthy showing changes in real US incomes in top 1%, middle 60%, and bottom 20% from 1979 through 2007, tracking household income but not individual incomes [ 9 ]
Occupy protesters in Oakland holding "We are the 99%"-themed signs
A chart showing the disparity in income distribution in the United States. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] Wealth inequality and income inequality have been central concerns among OWS protesters. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] [ 33 ] CBO data shows that in 1980, the top 1% earned 9.1% of all income, while in 2006 they earned 18.8% of all income. [ 34 ]
We are the 99% protester at Occupy London