Why America’s middle class is lost

Washington Post ^ | December 12, 2014 | Jim Tankersley

[C19fan]

One day in 1967, Bob Thompson sprayed foam on a hunk of metal in a cavernous factory south of Los Angeles. And then another day, not too long after, he sat at a long wood bar with a black-and-white television hanging over it, and he watched that hunk of metal land a man on the moon.

On July 20, 1969 — the day of the landing — Thompson sipped his Budweiser and thought about all the people who had ever stared at that moon. Kings and queens and Jesus Christ himself. He marveled at how when it came time to reach it, the job started in Downey. The bartender wept.

On a warm day, almost a half-century later, Thompson curled his mouth beneath a white beard and talked about the bar that fell to make way for a freeway, the space-age factory that closed down and the town that is still waiting for its next great economic rocket, its new starship to the middle class.

[WilliamIII]

“the middle class is being destroyed by the leftists on purpose”

Don’t blame the Democrats. Blame the Democrats and the Republicans. Ross Perot warned us and we didn’t listen.

The GOP has been enthusiastically supporting sending manufacturing overseas, for a couple of decades. And look how GOP is standing up to Obama on amnesty for low-wage illegal immigrants here at home (they AREN’T standing up to him!).

Don’t blame the Democrats. Blame the Democrats and the Republicans. Ross Perot warned us and we didn’t listen.

[Gaffer]

Agree. I don’t blame Democrats by themselves. Politicians. RINOs and Democrats of any flavor.

[GeronL]

I said “leftists” not Democrats

[WilliamIII]

RINOs

I don’t use that term. Reagan was a RINO. He was the exception to Republicanism Republicanism is Nixon, Ford, Bush, Romney, McCain. Those are the people the GOP nominates ordinarily. Centrist and squishy. Reagan was an exception; called himself a Republican, but he was actually a conservative - hence, Republican in Name Only. That’s why the real Republican Party - the Party establishment - hated him and still do.

[sten]

the jobs required to sustain the middle class went overseas with the push from bjclinton and walmart

the result will be a few at the top managing the workers and everyone else fighting over the few jobs they will permit us to have.

if you try to start a company, therefore employ some people, the dems will do everything in their power to snuff you out.

[WilliamIII]

Don’t just blame the leftists, The GOP is also at fault.

[WilliamIII]

the jobs required to sustain the middle class went overseas with the push from bjclinton and Walmart

supported by the GOP. They gave Clinton the votes for NAFTA etc. Ross Perot warned us

[Gaffer]

Stickling aside, there is no way I equate RINO with Reagan - ever. It has a distinct meaning in this particular time frame - at least from my perspective.

[sten]

without tariff barriers to goods coming from wage-slave countries, there is nothing to slow down the migration of those jobs to the cheaper labor.

the increase in unions and minimum wage just accelerates it

[GeronL]

GOP leftists are still leftists

[hal ogen]

Yes...I blame both. However, ross gave us clintoon.

[jsanders2001]

> “the middle class is being destroyed by the leftists on purpose”

And when the middle class is destroyed they leftists and the eliteist overlords will look around and say, “where’d the money go? No more to siphon?!! Crap what have we done?!!” then they will wreak destruction on their overlords and eat each other.

The End.

I love happy endings...

[redangus]

Your missing the point. I grew up in a factory town. My dad, uncle and a lot of my friends dads worked in one of the numerous plants making a decent middle class wage. Most of those plants ran 3 shifts per day with upwards of 200 people per shift. Now that same work is being done in one shift by maybe a hundred or so employees and their robot friends. Those guys who worked in those jobs bought houses and cars and TVs and refrigerators all built by other guys working in other factories. They also bought meat from local meat markets and hired plumbers and electricians who bought the cars and appliances factory workers built. It was very intertwined economy and it worked. Then they started sending those jobs off shore replacing them with ‘service’ industry jobs which didn’t pay anywhere near as much. And that is when the middle class started its death spiral. You can’t remove integral parts of a complex interdependent economy and expect the economy to continue to flourish. Those factory jobs were the way up for a lot of poor less educated people. Are companies making bigger profits today sure, but the money is not making into the hands of a large segment of the population in the form of wages as it used to. I personally don’t believe you can turn back the clock on this. Progress is what it is, but it hasn’t been progress for a large segment of the working class population of the country.

[khelus]

For at least 50 years our democrat and republican politicians have sold our industry down the tubes for financial contributions and kickbacks while lying to us, telling us how hard they are working to save our jobs and economy.

They have repeatedly passed free trade agreements like NAFTA and given tax breaks and financial aid and assistance to other countries to help them compete with us and eventually kill our own industries.

Finally, we now have squatting in the White House, the only politician who has been somewhat honest about his true objective.

Barack Obama has told us that his goal is to fundamentally transform America.

That is what he is doing and he is being aided and abetted in his efforts by democrats and republicans.

Yup ... The destruction didn't happen overnight. I happened over decades. Both parties are complicit. The majority and the elite of the -D's and -R's each play their role in the street theater and receive a share of the wealth looted from the US middle class as a reward.

[oust the louse]

People who are $15-20 dollar an hour ($31,200-$41,600) workers feel they need to be paid 25-30 ($52,000-62,400) an hour these days. They have this entitled attitude. I deal with it every day...they are not any better than 15-20 an hour yet they demand it or leave when they don’t get what they want...they lack skill sets, education and work ethic. But dammit, they deserve more money regardless!

AND these are the same people driving the 25k vehicle, with I Pads, I phones, computers, living in 150k houses....over extended and in debt.

[nascarnation]

To some extent, it’s hard to blame them.
The fed gov is exactly the same way.
They are modeling the same behavior.

[oust the louse]

Agree with what your saying, progress/technology has slowed the middle class to almost a stop. Pick and place machines that require NO medical benefits, bathroom breaks, or vacations.
The problem is the jobs that are out there don’t seem to be good enough for many. They truly feel they deserve more. They see entrepreneurs driving their Mercedes and risking what they have to build a company and they want some of that. They want it NOW... They just don’t want to work for it or risk it.

[GeronL]

I understand all that, but the answer is not to do away with technological innovations.

[ExpatGator]

Yep. In the last 4 years our monthly premiums have more than quadrupled and our deductible has gone from $500 to $5,500. We are swimming in medical debt and slowly going under.

[FreedomNotSafety]

EPA, NRLB, OSHA, NBLM, FTC, FDA, NIOSH, ICC, federal income tax, FICA employee, FICA employer, disability tax, federal unemployment tax, Mediacre tax, state income tax, local income tax, school income tax, property tax, local sales tax, gas tax federal, gas tax state, etc...

THAT NAMES JUST A FEW!!!

Now list the alphabet soup of benefits available if you don’t work.