ABSTRACT
The slogan emerged suddenly and mysteriously-seemingly from nowhere. A motley group of protesters, camped near Wall Street in the fall of 2011, chanted and tweeted the phrase until it became a national symbol of inequality and populist outrage at the rich. Seized on by a voracious news media and transplanted onto the ubiquitous Internet, the slogan took on a life all its own. We are the 99 percent! The brainchild of the 2011 liberal Occupy Wall Street movement, the slogan was shorthand for an issue that within weeks vaulted onto the national agenda, capturing the attention of citizens, journalists, and policymakers.
