Posted on 10/14/2010 5:01:55 PM PDT by Lorianne
America's middle class is disappearing. A lifestyle sustained for 30 years by rising debt is dissolving as the credit dries up. And the question beyond the crisis is: can it ever come back?
Figures released last month by the US Census Bureau show it will be hard. Middle incomes are lower, in real terms, than in 1999. The median income, stagnate for a decade, fell by 4.2% once the crisis hit. Since December 2007 more than six million Americans have been pushed below the official poverty line.
It is dawning on millions that the term middle class might be a misnomer. But the label "working class" does not fit either: in the US it denotes a lifestyle choice involving trade union activism or support for the grittier baseball teams, not a sociological category.
This sudden collapse in lifestyle will have economic and psychological impacts long after the crisis is over. Since the 1980s US growth has been driven by the spending power of the salaried workforce. In turn the consumer has been the dynamo of global growth.
In the midterm elections politicians have promised to "do something" for the middle class. The kindest thing they could do is tell the truth: Americans have been living a middle-class lifestyle on working-class wages – and bridging the gap with credit. And it's over.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Thanks Obama!
I hope that we can do something beneficial. A nation needs a large, educated middle class in order to prosper.
Baloney. It began disappearing when "Free Trade" and "Global Competion", aka Service Economy, was palmed off on the public. Replacing jobs that made things we consumed with services is not a way to create wealth, only to redistribute it.
You believe this is solely Obama's fault?
I was never under the impression that being middle class was anything to aspire to anywho.
“...Since December 2007 more than six million Americans have been pushed below the official poverty line...”
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There are three generations living in my house now.
Wife out of work.
#1 son out of work
Daughter-in-law out of work.
Two grand-kids just starting school.
#2 son still in college.
Food stamps and child medicare help out a little.
Thank G_D I still have a job.
Congress is as responsible as he is, but I didn’t feel like thanking all of them, too.
Agreed. “Free trade” along with “Green Industry” frauds have been destructive of the United States.
People criticize debt and borrowers, but debt is based on optimism and confidence, which is necessary for any economy. It means that you think your income will rise and you’ll be able to pay it off. Most people who assumed debt, including mortgages, thought things were heading upwards.
Debt doesn’t work if things are going in the other direction though. And that’s what we have now.
IMO long-term unemployment is the killer. Families dip into and use up their savings. Then, it’s selling whatever they can. Then it’s cashing in retirement funds and investments. Yeah, sure, they can get a job, but when an income of 30K and up suddenly disappears, Wal-Mart, part-time, just doesn’t cut it.
““Free trade” along with “Green Industry” frauds have been destructive of the United States.”
It took some courage for you to state this truth. I wish more here would point it out.
Check out Posting #14 and consider yourself included. Too many don’t realize the truth about the Free Trade ideology.
I agree up to a point. But I think a lot of people went WAY past optism with debt.
In the past, in countries where the middle class was disappearing, its citizens emigrated to America, Canada and Australia. That was then. Today, Americans have no place to emigrate to even if they wanted to.
I remember how, right after WWII, European newspapers were full of invitations of emigration to countries like Brazil, Argentina, Canada, USA and Australia. The qualifications then were MUCH MORE stringent than what they are today, if there are any, but the journey was paid for by the country of destination. The host country only demanded the best.
When the terms “Free Trade” are uttered there are some that lose the capacity for rational thought; it is pure Pavlov.
Middle class was made possible by a work ethic, blue-collar common-sense, and a government that was pretty much in the background (except for roads, wars, crime, etc.)
Now the government is everything, and it has sucked all the oxygen out of the room. Liberal welfare, loose immigration and excessive regulation have driven out the will to work, loaded up entry-level jobs, and driven jobs overseas, respectively.
As a guy on CNBC said recently....
China has central planning done by mathematicians, scientists, and engineers and the US has central planning done by lawyers. The results aren’t going to be pretty.
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