The Erosion of America's Middle Class

Der Spiegel ^ | August 19th 2010 | Thomas Schulz

[Cardhu]

While America's super-rich congratulate themselves on donating billions to charity, the rest of the country is worse off than ever. Long-term unemployment is rising and millions of Americans are struggling to survive. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and the middle class is disappearing.

Ventura is a small city on the Pacific coast, about an hour's drive north of Los Angeles. Luxury homes with a view of the ocean dot the hillsides, and the beaches are popular with surfers. Ventura is storybook California. "It's a well-off place," says Captain William Finley. "But about 20 percent of the city is what we call at risk of homelessness." Finley heads the local branch of the Salvation Army.

Last summer Ventura launched a pilot program, managed by Finley, that allows people to sleep in their cars within city limits. This is normally illegal, both in Ventura and in the rest of the country, where local officials and residents are worried about seeing run-down vans full of Mexican migrant workers parked on residential streets.

But sometime at the beginning of last year, people in Ventura realized that the cars parked in front of their driveways at night weren't old wrecks, but well-tended station wagons and hatchbacks. And the people sleeping in them weren't fruit pickers or the homeless, but their former neighbors.

Finley also noticed a change. Suddenly twice as many people were taking advantage of his social service organization's free meals program, and some were even driving up in BMWs -- apparently reluctant to give up the expensive cars that reminded them of better times.

Finley calls them "the new poor." "That is a different category of people that I think we're seeing," he says. "They are people who never in their wildest imaginations thought they would be homeless."

[Cardhu]

"The image of what is a poor person in today's day and age doesn't fly. When I was growing up a poor person, and we grew up fairly poor, you drove a 10-year-old car that probably had some dents in it. You know, there was one car for the family and you lived out of the food bank," says Finley. "In the past, you got yourself out of poverty and were on your way up."

A long but excellent article well worth a read.

[olezip]

Finley calls them "the new poor." "That is a different category of people that I think we're seeing," he says. "They are people who never in their wildest imaginations thought they would be homeless."

I believe that we have the new poor thanks to the stealth socialism of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the "tax and spend" Democrat Party. They are mindlessly "spreading the wealth" with zero knowledge of basic economics, the 100% failure of socialism, and their warped and twisted views of a perfect society that features the culture of death.

[GnuHere]

Maybe more people should drive 10 yr old cars (like mine) instead of spending as much on a new car every 3 years as a house used to cost.

[Boucheau]

Yuk! Why isn’t this being told to Americans by the American news media?

I’m fifteen minutes from Ventura, Ca. I haven’t noticed people living in their cars, but I can tell you that things are bad in Southern California.

I’ve had clients (businesses) dropping like flies for a year and a half now.

My company has done fine because of loyal clients. However, new business is off dramatically.

If it gets much worse I will have to begin laying-off some really fine people.

Big government is at the root of ALL of this.

Our founders warned us. Heck, mother nature is screaming at us to live free 24/7/365—it’s our natural state.

The American population will suffer to the extent that they are not allowed to function as a free people.

[03A3]

He’s right about one thing.....the middle class has been fleeced by the government to assist both those above it (too big to fail) and those below it (automatic constituency).

[sergeantdave]

“However, new business is off dramatically.”

You’re paying for the sins of the liberal idiots who voted the carpetbagger into the whitehut.

[Malesherbes]

Well said, Boucheau.

[I Buried My Guns]

"...The American population will suffer to the extent that they are not allowed to function as a free people..."

I thnk that is the ultimate goal, perpetrated by the Elite: To reduce a formerly wealthy and defiant people (the middle class in America) to the level of serfs. All the easier to control them and thus intitute your globalist agenda.

what a lot of people don't know is that America is unique in that it has (well had, anyway) a large middle class. They were a buffer and moderating influence that prevented the very rich from putting in place policies that were bad for America, and at the same time also moderated the very poor because of the opportunity to move up: it gave the poor hope, and decreased the allure of communism.

Call me a cynic, but I think the destruction of the American middle class is being orchestrated and is not a random event.

To a starving man, "liberty" is an abstraction, and he would gladly give up that liberty for a package of Ramen.

[algernonpj]

Very well put. I completely agree with you.

I was brought up to believe that anyone who believed in ‘conspiracy theories’ needed a tin foil hat.

However, during ‘unplanned’ time off since 9-11, I’ve had too much free time to explore what was going wrong in this country. I came upon information on the NWO, etc. It wasn’t easy to accept, but suddenly all those things that made no sense fell in place - flooding the county with illegal aliens and guest workers, giving them all kinds of freebies, the denigration of our basic christian culture and anglo-saxon work ethic, no serious effort to secure our borders, no real attempt to give immigration the tools it needs for accurate timely assessments, often no real choice between the two major parties - only the ‘lesser of two evils’, etc.

Goldwater, McCarthy, and Birch were correct after all.

Zero is just completing the work toward a New World Order put in place by Bush-I, and continued by Clinton and Bush-II (not the only culprits, but the most recent ones). I suspect the top of the conspiracy is a relatively small number of individuals who are very patient, flexible, and use the weaknesses of human nature to pursue their agenda (e.g. politicians on both sides of the aisle corrupted by greed and power).

If you haven’t read the following, you might be interested in:

The Destroyers Who Control Congress, the White House & Media
Free trade: Assault on U.S. sovereignty
Obama: Trilateral Commission Endgame
A Very Real New World Order
None Dare Call It Treason

[Melchior]

Practically the first demand of Socialism (regardless of stripe) is the destruction of the bourgeoisie — the Middle Class. Perhaps it is time to break out the old paperback, “To The Finland Station.”

[Boucheau]

I agree.

In their warped minds it will serve a few purposes. Not the least of which is to slow so-called “climate change” by slowing commerce—low-consumption.

We have enemies on multiple fronts. It’s good ‘ol collectivism (communism) on one side, and wealthy power mongers (bankers) who have bought-off/purchased our government on the other. This is a toxic combination of belief systems that ultimately define humans as meat, or slaves, or viruses.

These are not nice people. They are wicked to the core, if not sociopaths.

Our only hope is to return our government to its intended state and purpose: existing ONLY to preserve and defend individual rights and freedom.

There are many reasons given for why this is not possible, even from most conservatives. To me these are but rationalizations for advocating enslavement.

“The more their plans fail, the more the planners plan.” ~Ronald Reagan

It’s not likely to be restored any time soon, so I believe there are very tough times ahead, maybe even a total breakdown.

For me, the worst part of it all is watching as these demons steal the lives of future generations of Americans. They have claimed right to the existence of each of America’s unborn children. The opportunity cost is immeasurable.

One thing is for certain, if this is not stopped and reversed, it will cost all that made this country and its people exceptional.

[CoastWatcher]

How Horrible.
The article does not mention the fact that this all happened on o-bow-ma’s watch, or that German’s helped get this fool elected. They now gloat over America’s difficulties, and yet there is a long list of Germans waiting to immigrate to the USA. Enjoy the schadenfreude while it lasts.

[Zone Mom]

Our family is part of the “new poor”. We’re not angry with the “rich”, but with those in government who stifle entrepreneurs and businesses who would employ more workers and raise their wages if the government were not so bent on controlling the lives of others. I am more than ready to sacrifice comfort for liberty. I don’t want a handout. I won’t take one. But I will help my fellow man more, if my wages were not taxed so much. I’ve chronicled more of my family’s “dealings” with our new poor status on a blog: www.newpoorzone.com.

[riri]

maybe even a total breakdown.

Don't we appear to be on the verge of that now? I feel like a milk cow surrounded by jackals already. And the jackals grow more emboldened by the day.