‘We are The 99 Percent’ is The Quote for 2011

“Occupy Wall Street” may not be on the side of the rich and wealthy, but Yale University has no objections to the movement, whose “We are the 99 percent” slogan became the main quote of 2011, according to Fred Shapiro in the sixth annual edition of Yale Book of Quotations, which has been listing year-defining quotes since 2006.

Since it began in New York three months ago, the “Occupy” movement has been all over the world protesting against economic injustice, corporate greed, and governmental corruption: blaming the banks and “big business” for the financial crisis that led to the Great Recession. In order words: create jobs, and bailout the working and middle class.

“The Occupy quotes and the other more liberal quotes that you see at the top of the list this year are directed more at Wall Street and the upper 1 percent economically of the country rather than focus squarely on government” said Shapiro, an associate librarian of Yale Law School.

Among the list includes Rick Perry at number five with “Oops”, when the Republican presidential candidate failed to named the third federal agency he would eliminate in the November 9 debate.

Former Two and a Half Men star Charlie Sheen is at number seven naming the drug he was on that kept his “winning” streak going during the first half of 2011: Charlie Sheen. “It’s not available because if you try it once, you will die” he said to ABC News back in February. “Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”