5 Myths About the Poor Middle Class
POSTED BY: Geezer
UPDATED: Friday, January 4, 2008 20:04
VIEWED: 6018
PAGE 1 of 10
By Stephen Rose
Sunday, December 23, 2007; Page B03
The American middle class is fighting for its life -- or at least that's what Lou Dobbs would have you believe. The CNN anchor's rants about "the war on the middle class" are probably the most prominent examples of such economic doom-saying, but he isn't alone. Democratic presidential candidates pepper their debates with references to the assault; leading liberal thinkers argue that supply-side conservatives captured the Republican Party during the Reagan administration and implemented policies that continue to privilege the super rich today. They tell a compelling tale of middle-class decline. Pity it isn't true.
1. The middle class's standard of living stagnated while the dot-com boom made the super rich even richer.
Not really. In fact, the U.S. economy hands out wealth far more evenly. Per capita gross domestic product has increased by more than 65 percent since 1979 -- growth that translates to $26,000 per household. If all that money had gone to the richest 10th of the population, it would now hold more than 60 percent of the national income. That's nearly twice as much as the super rich actually have, according to the best census surveys available.
To be fair, demographic changes have sparked many misunderstandings about the economic health of the middle class. For example, Americans today are more likely to live in single-adult households than they were 30 years ago. Adjust incomes to take into account this shift, along with increasing employer contributions to retirement savings and to health insurance premiums, and you find that the real middle-class median income has risen 33 percent, or $18,000, since 1979. Of course, that's a third less than the $26,000 that those households would have gotten if the growth had been distributed equally. But the middle class didn't stand still, either.
2. The middle class is shrinking.
True, fewer people today live in households with incomes between $30,000 and $100,000 (a reasonable definition of "middle class") than in 1979. But the number of people in households that bring in more than $100,000 also rose from 12 percent to 24 percent. There was no increase in the percentage of people in households making less than $30,000. So the entire "decline" of the middle class came from people moving up the income ladder. For married couples, median incomes have grown in inflation-adjusted dollars by 25 percent since 1979.
3. The only way people cope with the middle-class meltdown is by falling into debt.
You've probably heard that the average U.S. household carries $9,300 in credit card debt. But that misleading statistic includes the debt of the self-employed and some small businesses. The 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances, which does not include business debt, showed that 54 percent of households had no credit card debt after paying their monthly bill and that the average household credit card debt was just over $2,300.
Mortgages, which represent 79 percent of all debt, are the more pressing concern. But even according to the most pessimistic estimates, only 1 to 2 percent of homeowners will be forced into foreclosure in the next few years. Assets have grown faster than debts for most middle-class families. Median net worth has grown 35 percent since 1989, according to the Federal Reserve Board, and only 15 percent of households have debt payments worth more than 40 percent of their income or are 60 days late on any debt payment.
4 With the rise in trade with China and India, the United States has become a nation of low-paid service workers destined for a high rate of unemployment.
The claim that automation and international trade will create a large class of permanently unemployed American workers remains as fuzzy as ever. Certainly, in the churn of the modern economy, more firms are closing or reducing their labor forces. Every week for the past several years, nearly 1 million workers either quit or lost their jobs. But a slightly higher number were also hired in a typical week.
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Are all of these figures adjusted for inflation? The article doesn't say, but if not it's worthless.
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Always look upstream.
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I now have hope that I, too, can be a journalist! You only need faulty figures, a bent agenda, and a blinders to everyday reality- I can do that! Hell, any idiot could!
My next article: How comics prices have risen over 1600% since 1970 proving that all today's comic-buying kids are rich!
Duhisall
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Huh. My income is zero, when I was paid $4,000 a month 10 years ago. My wife's income is $800 a month, when she earned $50,000 a year 15 years ago. New home forclosed on when no payments late. Two cars stolen by copkilling chopshopping towtruckers employed by Gangsta Govt. Incompetent medical insurance cancelled and blacklisted as "uninsurable" for being sick. Credit reports blacklist employment for being disabled. No Christmas gifts for us. Thanks for 6-months Unemployment "Insurance" and Food Stamps. But hey, at least I've got no credit card debt, only 3 months debt to my slumlord.
It was nice going back to college for retraining, until my professors told us there would be no more engineering jobs in USA in 10 years. That was in 2000. This year GM and Ford announced they were planning to close ALL factories in USA.
And Veternas Administration stole my wife's military retirement pension, as perped against 95% of all disabled retired veterans. But Jews in Congress plan to give all Russian military veterans full retirement pension in USA, paid by US taxpayers (and borrowed from Communist China).
My Social Security disability pension has been stolen for the past 10 years, despite overpaying over 100 years of insurance premiums into the SS Trust Fund. But at least Jewish illegal aliens get $60,000 a year Social Security after paying no taxes, with immunity from deportation (Jewish Lautenburg Amendment).
Of course the Jews censored that legislative news report off Youtube.
Quote:
Lautenberg Amendment
H.R. 1685 -- Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1997
http://burmalibrary.org/reg.burma/archives/199709/msg00230.html
http://www.visalaw.com/98oct/49oct98.html
http://www.vdare.com/allen/lautenberg.htm
http://www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/fs/44171.htm
http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc0302/article_233.s
html
http://www.jfsla.org/index.php?/article/details/435/
http://www.skokienet.org/american/index.html
And restaurant managers in Tennessee are required to speak Spanish, for hiring illegal alien gangmembers (no US citizens allowed), and for speaking Spanish to ALL customers.
Here's George W Bush singing Happy Christmas, Suckers:
Ron Paul: The $6-Million Man
RonPaulRevere.com Canvassing DVD
http://ronpaulreveres.com/DVDIntroVideo
Ron Paul Radio Ad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Deng
Hanoi Hannity: "I voted for the Sino-American Alliance."
"US ports owned by Commie China is good for me."
"Dead and disabled US soldiers are good for me."
"Outsourcing your job is very good for me."
"Sir Rupert dines with Hillary every week."
"Ron Paul does not exist in my 'Verse."
"As far as Chinese goes, I resented it."
-Adam Tudyk, The Making of Firefly
FOX, MYSPACE & FIREFLY OWNED BY COMMUNIST CHINA!
www.piratenews.org/pntv-schedule.html
Does that seem right to you?
Firefly Music Video: Tangerine dream - Confrontation, Thief soundtrack
www.megavideo.com/?v=JVT35GR8
www.scifi.com/onair/
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Don't forget the Illuminati, PN; or the Elders of Zion. Not to mention the International Conspiracy of Guys Named Dave.
"She's tore up plenty. But she'll fly true." -- Zoë Washburn
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Hey, Rocketdoof- the Illuminati are real; I saw them in Tomb Raider!!!
Check your sources Chrisisall
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No they don't, and neither do the commie nazi jews. Anyone who says different, erm, won't be erm, crushed, at all, oh no.
More insane ramblings by the people who brought you beeeer milkshakes!
No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.
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Interesting. The headline says 5 MYTHS, but the discussions are basically:
1. Not really...
2. True, but...
3. You've probably heard, but... [inconclusive pseudo-numbers follow]
4. It's fuzzy, but... [more fuzzy numbers that may show good signs if you squint at them]
5. Yes, but...
I mean, am I supposed to feel newly informed after reading this? Cause, honestly, not so much.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Quote:Not if all you can do is read the first words of each paragraph.
Originally posted by mal4prez:
I mean, am I supposed to feel newly informed after reading this?
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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But at least I produced 5 hours of deprogramming by Ron Paul, broadcast into 110,000 homes of Christmas zombies, to kill the IRS, income and Federal Resrve Counterfeit Banksters:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8574970266374349347&hl=en
Here's why the borders are wide open for 50-million criminal aliens. Seems US Dept of Homeland Security and Immigration Customs Enforcement are busy running coke for the CIA. That's 2 jets captured with 9 tons of Uncle Scam's cocaine:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue48/article2941.html
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