$7 Million In Debt Eliminated By Occupy Movement

Occupy Wall Street took on a new role to the surprise of many who thought the movement had all but fizzled out.  “The People’s Bailout” was a festive benefit party put on to raise money in order to buy back debt.  “A bailout of the 99% by the 99%.”  Their plan was to raise money and buy debt that had been discounted, given to 2 cents to a dollar by the original lender and then forgive it.  Those who participated in the fundraiser were given a Name tag and asked to fill in their debt amount in order to form a united front of personal debt. 

This arm of the Occupy movement has a clear, agreed upon goal, a frequent criticism of the parent movement. Their focus is medical debt, although student loans and housing are tied closely into the big three of misleading contracts weighing individuals down. It is by exposing these practices that the Occupy movement hopes to shed light on the often shady business that debt collectors tend to present. Although this won’t be an end to debt, the movement was able to eliminate $7 million dollars of debt by raising $368,428. A pretty good start, where do I sign up?