With cardboard signs asking, "Do You Owe China Money?" and declaring "The Middle Class is Gone," a handful of area residents have taken inspiration from Occupy Wall Street and have occupied Tuckahoe Park in Altoona.

At least between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Organizer Matthew Cain, 19, of Altoona said the group, which late Tuesday afternoon consisted of three people, hopes to get a permit to stay in the Union Avenue park overnight, but until then the protesters will be in the park only 12 hours each day, or as time permits as they juggle work schedules.

Cain said after a trip with friends to New York City's Occupy Wall Street protests last weekend, he and a small group of friends decided to spark a similar movement in Altoona.

Cain pointed out that his generation is staring at trillions in debt and the protest is as much about the "greed and corruption that has seeped into the government" as it is the shrinking middle class.

"I think the upper class and middle class are just getting farther and farther apart," Cain said. "The middle class is just disappearing."