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Message
What or who do you think destroyed the Middle Class in America?
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:03 pm
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:03 pm
In case you doubt the simple fact here a few links. You can get data from left middle or right, but all the same result. American's middle class is in real trouble and if trends continue we will be like South America's countries with simply rich people and poor people but the question is why? What went wrong? Who is responsible? Who did what and why?
1. According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971. Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are.
2. The Pew Research Center has also found that 85 percent of middle class Americans say that it is harder to maintain a middle class standard of living today compared with 10 years ago.
3. 62 percent of middle class Americans say that they have had to reduce household spending over the past year.
4. The average net worth of a middle class family in America was $129,582 in 2001. By 2010 that figure had dropped to $93,150.
5. According to the Federal Reserve, the median net worth of all families in the United States declined “from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010“.
6. Back in 1970, middle income Americans brought home 62 percent of all income in the United States. In 2010, middle income Americans only brought home 45 percent of all income.
7. After you adjust for inflation, median family income in the United States has fallen by about 6 percent since the year 2000.
8. Real median household income has decreased by more than 4000 dollars since Barack Obama entered the White House.
9. Amazingly, more than half of all Americans are now at least partially financially dependent on the government.
10. In 1970, 65 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”. By 2007, only 44 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”.
11. If you can believe it, one recent survey found that 28 percent of all Americans do not have a single penny saved for emergencies.
12. The United States was once ranked #1 in the world in GDP per capita. Today we have slipped to #12.
13. The total value of household real estate in the U.S. has declined from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today. Most of that wealth has been lost by the middle class.
14. Back in 2007, 19.2 percent of all American families had a net worth of zero or less. By 2010, that figure had risen to 32.5 percent.
15. Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.
16. In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
17. Corporate profits as a percentage of GDP are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, wages as a percentage of GDP are near an all-time low.
18. There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
19. The average American household spent approximately $4,155 on gasoline during 2011, and electricity bills in the U.S. have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
20. Over the past decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages have in the United States.
21. Health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent since Barack Obama became president. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.
22. Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
23. Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
24. Total consumer debt in the United States has risen by 1700 percent since 1971.
25. Recently it was announced that total student loan debt in the United States has passed the one trillion dollar mark.
84. In the United States today, 77 percent of all Americans are living to paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time.
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1. According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971. Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are.
2. The Pew Research Center has also found that 85 percent of middle class Americans say that it is harder to maintain a middle class standard of living today compared with 10 years ago.
3. 62 percent of middle class Americans say that they have had to reduce household spending over the past year.
4. The average net worth of a middle class family in America was $129,582 in 2001. By 2010 that figure had dropped to $93,150.
5. According to the Federal Reserve, the median net worth of all families in the United States declined “from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010“.
6. Back in 1970, middle income Americans brought home 62 percent of all income in the United States. In 2010, middle income Americans only brought home 45 percent of all income.
7. After you adjust for inflation, median family income in the United States has fallen by about 6 percent since the year 2000.
8. Real median household income has decreased by more than 4000 dollars since Barack Obama entered the White House.
9. Amazingly, more than half of all Americans are now at least partially financially dependent on the government.
10. In 1970, 65 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”. By 2007, only 44 percent of all Americans lived in “middle class neighborhoods”.
11. If you can believe it, one recent survey found that 28 percent of all Americans do not have a single penny saved for emergencies.
12. The United States was once ranked #1 in the world in GDP per capita. Today we have slipped to #12.
13. The total value of household real estate in the U.S. has declined from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today. Most of that wealth has been lost by the middle class.
14. Back in 2007, 19.2 percent of all American families had a net worth of zero or less. By 2010, that figure had risen to 32.5 percent.
15. Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.
16. In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
17. Corporate profits as a percentage of GDP are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, wages as a percentage of GDP are near an all-time low.
18. There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
19. The average American household spent approximately $4,155 on gasoline during 2011, and electricity bills in the U.S. have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
20. Over the past decade, health insurance premiums have risen three times faster than wages have in the United States.
21. Health insurance costs have risen by 23 percent since Barack Obama became president. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, health care costs accounted for just 9.5% of all personal consumption back in 1980. Today they account for approximately 16.3%.
22. Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
23. Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
24. Total consumer debt in the United States has risen by 1700 percent since 1971.
25. Recently it was announced that total student loan debt in the United States has passed the one trillion dollar mark.
84. In the United States today, 77 percent of all Americans are living to paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time.
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Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:05 pm to TutHillTiger
Technology and the global labor pool.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:10 pm to The Third Leg
Yep.
/thread
/thread
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:13 pm to TutHillTiger
In decades past, the middle class didn't need a four year college degree. Many of the jobs they held were labor jobs - working in a factory, working on a loading dock, etc. Those are the types of jobs that have been sent overseas, or increasingly automated.
Now, there are still a lot of jobs out there that pay well without a college degree, but they are physically more demanding - working offshore, working outside, a/c repair, etc. We also seem to have a population that doesn't want to work hard.
Then you look at the college grads, who will eventually become middle class, but it will take years longer, due to all the student loan debt. This delays typical middle class class symbols - buying a house, etc.
Now, there are still a lot of jobs out there that pay well without a college degree, but they are physically more demanding - working offshore, working outside, a/c repair, etc. We also seem to have a population that doesn't want to work hard.
Then you look at the college grads, who will eventually become middle class, but it will take years longer, due to all the student loan debt. This delays typical middle class class symbols - buying a house, etc.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:18 pm to TutHillTiger
I don't accept the premise that it has been "destroyed."
To the extent that it has diminished, what Third Leg said.
To the extent that it has diminished, what Third Leg said.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:26 pm to The Third Leg
quote:
global labor pool
More specifically Most Favored Nation Status for China, NAFTA
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:28 pm to The Third Leg
Internet
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:30 pm to TutHillTiger
A lot of things, destruction of the nuclear family, destruction of the education system, a rising entitlement system, maintaining a 19th century taxation model for a 21st century economic environment, globalization, laziness, complacency and a general lack of clear objectives.
You see, America used to make things - things that the entire world wanted. Even when the production of many of those things started to shift, those things were still, largely, designed and tried out here first. We came out of the 19th century - really even with 2 decades of war/reconstruction behind us, as an industrial juggernaut. With the 2 global wars and a massive economic depression in between, we were both honed for battle and relatively unscathed compared to the rest of the world, particularly Europe.
So, in the 1950s, we were rapidly growing our economic base and middle class because we were relatively unopposed. We had to fight the Soviets in a Cold War and a Space Race, and we won them both - taking almost 50 years to do so.
And, now, roughly 25 years after that victory in the Cold War, here we are - like the old prizefighter - fat, out of shape, nostalgic for the good old days.
But, they were glorious. Short, but at our peak, as great as any of the old empires, Babylon, Persia, Rome, Britannia.
You see, America used to make things - things that the entire world wanted. Even when the production of many of those things started to shift, those things were still, largely, designed and tried out here first. We came out of the 19th century - really even with 2 decades of war/reconstruction behind us, as an industrial juggernaut. With the 2 global wars and a massive economic depression in between, we were both honed for battle and relatively unscathed compared to the rest of the world, particularly Europe.
So, in the 1950s, we were rapidly growing our economic base and middle class because we were relatively unopposed. We had to fight the Soviets in a Cold War and a Space Race, and we won them both - taking almost 50 years to do so.
And, now, roughly 25 years after that victory in the Cold War, here we are - like the old prizefighter - fat, out of shape, nostalgic for the good old days.
But, they were glorious. Short, but at our peak, as great as any of the old empires, Babylon, Persia, Rome, Britannia.
This post was edited on 9/28/14 at 9:32 pm
Posted on 9/28/14 at 9:49 pm to TutHillTiger
Race to the bottom.
If a region has a prosperous middle class then another region will undercut them and everyone will blame the workers for being greedy and wanting too much.
If a region has a prosperous middle class then another region will undercut them and everyone will blame the workers for being greedy and wanting too much.
This post was edited on 9/28/14 at 9:50 pm
Posted on 9/28/14 at 10:02 pm to Ace Midnight
Posted on 9/28/14 at 10:03 pm to TutHillTiger
Europe (primarily Germany) and Asia (primarily Japan) recovered from WWII by the late 60s / early 70s and became competitors in the global economy.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 10:10 pm to Ace Midnight
quote:
a 19th century taxation model for a 21st century
Really we have a 20th century taxation model, one in which we were the producers and the rest of the world were consumers. With our current trade imbalance and internal tax burden, we would be wise to eliminate all federal internal taxes and go back to subsisting on tariffs, our 19th century model.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 10:56 pm to TutHillTiger
It's sad that median income is lower now than it was in 1989. Think about what the costs were of daily expenditures then and now, and also other things such as vehicles.
New trucks then cost around 10-20k. Now they cost 30-55k. Gas then was less than a dollar a gallon, today it's 3 dollars. Food was way cheaper then.
Median income today does not go far as far as living a good middle class life. You have to make 100k or higher today to really live a comfortable life and not constantly stress about money unless you just spend frivolous.
New trucks then cost around 10-20k. Now they cost 30-55k. Gas then was less than a dollar a gallon, today it's 3 dollars. Food was way cheaper then.
Median income today does not go far as far as living a good middle class life. You have to make 100k or higher today to really live a comfortable life and not constantly stress about money unless you just spend frivolous.
Posted on 9/28/14 at 11:07 pm to 90proofprofessional
quote:There has never, in the history of man, been a better opportunity to better oneself as now.
I don't accept the premise that it has been "destroyed."
This post was edited on 9/28/14 at 11:08 pm
Posted on 9/28/14 at 11:19 pm to TutHillTiger
the jews! Just kidding.
Businesses have to make money, and when they're done expanding they make money by spending less money, and eventually have to pay labor less by moving to places where people will work for a small fraction of what people with American standards of living will, and they can do this because modern technology allows them to.
Not saying it's good or bad. It's just the way it is.
Businesses have to make money, and when they're done expanding they make money by spending less money, and eventually have to pay labor less by moving to places where people will work for a small fraction of what people with American standards of living will, and they can do this because modern technology allows them to.
Not saying it's good or bad. It's just the way it is.
This post was edited on 9/28/14 at 11:20 pm
Posted on 9/28/14 at 11:32 pm to The Third Leg
This, and the fact the less educated people breed faster. See idiocracy
Posted on 9/28/14 at 11:42 pm to TutHillTiger
Technology and globalization. Americans are falling for the same reason Indians and Chinese are rising: labor is trending toward equilibrium across a global market.
Posted on 9/29/14 at 12:18 am to TutHillTiger
quote:
What or who do you think destroyed the Middle Class in America?
Don't underestimate the impact of divorce.
Posted on 9/29/14 at 12:29 am to the808bass
I know that everything always has to be adjusted for inflation, but theres no way that 1965 middle class expenses are the comparable to today.
(Now whether these expenses are necessary is a different convo.)
Current day Perceived "middle class" expenses:
Home mortgage
Home insurance
Home utilities
Health insurance
Car note
Car insurance
Car fuel
Cell phone
Home internet
Home television
It would seem to me that the cost of perceived "middle class" expenses have gone up way faster than inflation.
(Now whether these expenses are necessary is a different convo.)
Current day Perceived "middle class" expenses:
Home mortgage
Home insurance
Home utilities
Health insurance
Car note
Car insurance
Car fuel
Cell phone
Home internet
Home television
It would seem to me that the cost of perceived "middle class" expenses have gone up way faster than inflation.
Posted on 9/29/14 at 1:02 am to TutHillTiger
min. wage laws
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