The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it

The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it

finance.yahoo.com

Wealth and power are rapidly becoming concentrated at the top and the big global corporations are making massive amounts of money. Meanwhile, the American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence as U.S. workers are slowly being merged into the new "global" labor pool.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This article paints a pretty bleak situation, leaving out some of the facts that point out that the situation is not as bad as the article would like to portray, but the situation is bad.

The numbers that I think really give an accurate idea of the situation are these particular numbers.

83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.

In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

Most of this income disparity has occurred since the 1980ties under the con job of the free market. This last round of banking deregulation has allowed the wealthy to fleece the middle class in unprecedented ways.

My 401k plan, which had been rising at a reasonable rate was immediately plundered of about a third of its value shortly after repubs succeeded in getting their finance deregulation passed. This happened across the country. The finance sector has quickly gone about robbing the middle class at every opportunity since there industry was deregulated. Going after these crooks, and re-redistributing the money back into the people who create the wealth is the real answer.


finance.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Already posted here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Jeez dewd. Thanks for ruining my dreams. Now I have to work even harder to get anywhere in life.

Looks like I posted this about 5 minutes after David9176.

We might as well discuss the issue on one thread.

Mods, please close this thread and provide a link to the other thread on the same article.

Thanks. poet1b

Call me crazy, but I have a theory of my own why the middle class is vanishing.

1. Recession. This is the obvious one. There are less jobs and more people. Employers have their pick from a field of hundreds, if not millions (depending on the company). I feel that "many" without jobs have brought it upon themselves. No doubt there are cities and areas where growth has just stopped - but in MY area, where people complain of the recession daily, I see many opportunities passed up by people who think the job comes to them. Right.

2. Debt. This is the major one. People are handing over their money to loan companies like they just do not care anymore. I say this over and over again. Why - and I mean WHY, do people buy cars with 5-7 year loans, or buy a house EXPECTING to pay it off in 30 years.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I can swear that a 30 year loan normally means you are paying at the very minimum of 100% in which was taken out. That is just a house loan. Add in credit cards, car loans, bad habits, unwise spending, horrible financing.

We are a country of uneducated tools in regards to money.

I see my own father as a prime example of this. I am willing to bet more than 2/3 of his real income a year goes towards INTEREST (not capital, keep that in mind), and maybe cig's and beer.

Maybe if people realized that if they paid their debt off as soon as possible, they would be floating in more money than they need if one does not live frivolously.

The middle class has sold their very own future for instant gratification.

reply to post by FritosBBQTwist


Well, I don't know too many people who aren't actively seeking a decent job, but, yeah, there are jobs for money that people don't feel is worth the time.

Is that wrong?

Debt is definitely a problem. Everyone is willing to go over their heads in debt to keep up with the jones, or, sorry if this sounds sexist, but to keep their wives happy.

reply to post by FritosBBQTwist


What you are saying is essentially what Peter Shiff in the video on this link is saying.

finance.yahoo.com...

I live his analogy, its like telling people they need to start exercising properly and eating right. They don't want to do it, and even worse, they don't want to hear it.