[Theoria]

As well: The Shrinking American Middle Class

[cripplecreek]

Largely because Washington spends all their time fighting over tax cuts for this group or that group when taxes are only a symptom of the problem.

The problem is too much regulation, too much spending, and too much government.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

UN Agenda 21 at work to eliminate unnecessary human beings.

[Wolfie]

American blue collar labor priced itself out of the middle class. Or more accurately, it priced itself INTO the middle class until overseas manufacturing at pennies on the dollar became a possibility. So it goes.

[grania]

Uh, no, President Obama. Growing the middle class involves getting out of the way si people can develop their own potential and economic well-being. That involves fewer government programs, not more.

[Sooth2222]

There are actual useful definitions of "middle class" and ones spawned by Political Correctness. I think the NY Times is using the latter, probably because it extracts "values" from the definition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class

Maybe it's "mean" in the PC world to call someone who works with his or her hands for a wage "working class", but what else is it?

[SMARTY]

The ‘systematic pauperization of the middle class’ has been the Liberals' goal all along... Republicans are too attached to their ‘bipartisanship’ to admit it.

[bray]

The Dem plans are working.

Pray America is waking

[txrefugee]

Legal immigration at an all-time high, illegal immigration given free entry at our non-existent borders, marriage rates falling every decade, education failing at every level….and we expect the Middle Class to survive? The enemies of America destroyed the foundation of the nation and can smell victory in the rubble.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

That this happens under 0bama is proof that we must give his policies even more chance to succeed. Err....or something like that.

[RayChuang88]

There's only one way to grow the middle class again: the biggest overhaul in income taxation since the passage of the 16th Amendment itself.

Implement the flat tax Steve Forbes proposed in 1996 now, then begin a conversion process that 3-4 years from now phases out the income tax, repeals the 16th Amendment, and replaces the income tax with something like FairTax (H.R. 25/S. 155).

[george76]

Government regulations and excessive , new, fees & taxes kills businesses.

Economic Death Spiral: More American Businesses Dying Than Starting ..

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3246702/posts

[PeterPrinciple]

One of the most unique aspects about the American experiment was the ability to move UP and DOWN THE social/economic/political stratus.

For practical purposes, we have lost this and it no longer exists .......

[Diana in Wisconsin]

All by design, Comrades. All. By. Design. ;)

[RetSignman]

The long sought after goal of communism is the destruction of the middle class in America.

It’s well under way.

[dead]

This social upheaval helps explain why the president focused on reviving the middle class, offering a raft of proposals squarely aimed at concerns like paying for a college education, taking parental leave, affording child care and buying a home.

"Rafts of proposals" like that helped destroy the middle class in the first place.

The middle class used to be able to afford things like college, housing, and health care until the government stepped in "to make it affordable."

The flood of government money into these markets naturally drove prices up as everybody scrambled to get their share of the booty. In a short time, the government drove the prices so high that only the very rich (like just about every federal politician) can afford these things without government assistance.

They fitted everybody with yokes, as intended.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

That’s fundamental transformation for ya. Who knew?

OK, we did.