Where has the middle class gone?

[red states rule]

It sould seem the recent job number (166,000 jobs added in Oct) came as a big disappointment to the liberal media - they were saying how the US economy was headed for a recession

(Even though the economy is growing at a 3/9% rate)

 

[manu1959]

Is it just me, or is the middle class disappearing. It seems that nowadays we have poor people, really poor people, and really really rich people. I was reading an article the other day that said in 2005 or 2006 a millionaire could still be on the Forbes 400. Now, they're all billionaires, and there isn't room for a millionaire. Not to mention poverty is up, employment is down, and most of the people in this country don't have health insurance. Does anyone else find this incredibly wrong?

well in northern california the middle class now is a two income family that makes beteen 100 and 150 a year.....

 

[jillian]

well in northern california the middle class now is a two income family that makes beteen 100 and 150 a year.....

Same in New York. And 100 is pushing it.

 

[Working Man]

It sould seem the recent job number (166,000 jobs added in Oct) came as a big disappointment to the liberal media - they were saying how the US economy was headed for a recession

(Even though the economy is growing at a 3/9% rate)

When I start to see parking lots full of cars and people earning living wages, and better, then I will concede that the economy has improved.

Service sector jobs are fine, for certain people with certain skills. So far, I am not impressed with the direction of this economy.


I am no GD liberal either! I blame lots of the problems on the libs who like to give my money away to losers who shouldn't have been born in the first place.

 

[Toro]

This idea that the middle class is disappearing is simply ridiculous. The middle class isn't disappearing at all. Incomes may be stagnating but the idea that everyone is either falling into poverty or becoming wealthy is bizarre.

Midcan

I've looked at the census data before, and according to it, all socioeconomic classes have seen a real increase in income since 1969. However, the poorest have seen the smallest gains whereas the richest have seen the greatest. That's why the poorest have a smaller and the richest have a greater share of the economic pie.

 

[Toro]

It sould seem the recent job number (166,000 jobs added in Oct) came as a big disappointment to the liberal media - they were saying how the US economy was headed for a recession

(Even though the economy is growing at a 3/9% rate)

166k is nothing to write home about. The nonfarm payroll growth over the past 3-4 years has averaged less than it did under Clinton, where figures of 300k or 400k were routine.

And that GDP number is BS. The nominal rate of growth was 4.7%, meaning that the PCE deflator was 0.8%, the lowest number in 44 years! The government is telling you that inflation is the lowest in over four decades. Right.

We may not be going into a recession, but we're going to skirt close to it.

 

[manu1959]

Same in New York. And 100 is pushing it.

so it does exist......the middle class is what....

single or married owns a house and a car?

 

[manu1959]

When I start to see parking lots full of cars and people earning living wages, and better, then I will concede that the economy has improved.

Service sector jobs are fine, for certain people with certain skills. So far, I am not impressed with the direction of this economy.


I am no GD liberal either! I blame lots of the problems on the libs who like to give my money away to losers who shouldn't have been born in the first place.

what state are you in?

 

[jillian]

so it does exist......the middle class is what....

single or married owns a house and a car?

$100,000 shouldn't be middle class. And it's barely middle class in NYC which is why I said it was pushing it. Single or married, rents or owns a co-op or a small house in an outerborough.

So, what does that say for everyone who DOESN'T have a family income of over $100K? I'd say it's a pretty good indication of the shrinking middle class.

 

[Threedee]

What Adam Smith and Francis Hutcheson are saying is: If you do A, then B will happen.

A — Eliminate duties and tariffs on goods imported into this country from the lesser developed countries.

B — Manufactures will increase in the lesser developed countries, and will decrease in this country; some manufactures here will close down; they will move their businesses to the lesser developed countries; workers in this country will lose their jobs; the economy in this country will shrink.

Well, the Congress did A, and B happened. They well knew what would happen and they did it anyway.

Congressman Ford voted against the free trade and fast track legislation, but too many of his fellow Democrats voted in favor of the legislation, as did the many Republicans. The changes didn't happen overnight, but they did happen, and will continue to happen; and now we are reaping the harvest of this shame. Good, solid tax bases have left the country, and States are struggling with their fiscal responsibilities, and passing the burden onto the inhabitants of the States by raising taxes: BLAMING THE VICTIM

Its too bad Watermark from FP.com isn't in on this one. This is about the point where he jumps in calling people a "nationalist" and a "fascist" for advocating protectionism. Always a hilarious spectacle to behold...

 

[indago]

Threedee wrote:

Its too bad Watermark from FP.com isn't in on this one. This is about the point where he jumps in calling people a "nationalist" and a "fascist" for advocating protectionism. Always a hilarious spectacle to behold...

During the campaign for governor of Michigan in October 2006, I posted this on a political message board:
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Journalist Monica Davey wrote for the New York Times concerning the campaign for Governor: "Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, an enormously popular Democrat when she took office four years ago, now faces a serious challenge from Dick DeVos, the former president of the Amway Corporation and the son of a co-founder. ...“The question is, Why did we get here, and how are we going to get out?” Ms. Granholm said."

It was also noted: "And while Mr. DeVos has tried to blame Ms. Granholm for the state’s struggles, in an interview, she directed the blame elsewhere: to circumstances beyond her control (“No other state is the automotive capital of the world”); to the Bush administration (“He has sat idly by while the industry reels”); and even to Mr. DeVos, who supported the trade agreements, Nafta and Cafta, that she said had helped leave the Michigan economy in a wreck."

The many State Governors can turn to their representatives in the federal government — their Senators — for blame for this. And the people's representatives, in the House of Representatives, can be looked upon for blame for our faltering economy. In Michigan, Senator Carl Levin didn't vote for the free trade agreements in the Congress when they came up for action in the Senate, and the representative for our area, Congressman William D. Ford, didn't vote for them either, and they also didn't vote for the FastTrack Legislation that gave the President the power to implement them, although Senator Carl Levin's brother Congressman Sander Levin did. Many in business and government who favored the free trade agreements called those opposed to them Protectionists, and derided them for their protectionist ideals. I guess these non-protectionists have forgotten what was written in the Preamble for the Constitution of the United States: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Note that it says: "promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". It doesn't say anything about closing down factories in the United States and shipping these jobs to a lesser developed country where living conditions and wages are far inferior to ours. Promoting the general welfare of all the States in the United States, and securing the blessings of liberty to all of the States inhabitants is the function of the government. THIS IS PROTECTIONISM, and the government is bound by the Constitution to embrace this doctrine. If the Demolicans are not willing to protect the United States and its economy, then they should all be booted out of government office.

Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) is not to blame for the state of the Michigan economy, and Governor Wannabe DeVos (R) isn't going to fix it either. Illegal immigration has been promoted in government, along with the shipping of our factories and jobs to the lesser developed countries, so that now we can compete with the Third World by using the illegal immigrants at their low wages and poor living conditions, and thus making of this country a Third World nation. Regression isn't written into the Constitution, and voting for representatives in government who will continue our regression isn't going to make our country's greatness. If we continue to vote these leeches back into positions of power, we will have only ourselves to blame for what happens to us.
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