The REAL 99%

Top 40 Poorest Countries in the World

The headline on the BBC News blog read - "China increases rural poverty limit to $1 a day" ... $1 a day ... If you earned more than $1 a day in rural China you weren't considered to live in poverty. This is up from what the Chinese government previously considered poor (in the countryside) at 55 cents a day.

Take a walk down the street where you live. Go into a Starbucks. What can you buy for $1.00? A cookie? A bottle of water? Maybe, maybe not. Walk into a grocery store. What can you get for $1.00 there? A 500 ml carton of milk? A can of soup? A banana, maybe two? You'd be dead from starvation in less than a month.

Now, of course, I know the cost of living is different in China compared to North America. But, even if you multiplied the daily amount of $1 day tenfold do you think you could survive here? $10.00 a day to live on? Really?

So you want to occupy Wall Street? You want to occupy a park? Go to Somalia to occupy a park. Go to rural China to occupy a park. Go to Ethiopia to occupy a park. Go to Haiti to occupy a park. Because that's where the true 99% live. Not here in our backyards.