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136 Comments
Posted on Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 10:29 PM
America's Middle Class is dying and the stats prove it
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Take off your hats and bow to your betters. It's over - the noble American experiment I mean.
The American middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer here at a historically unprecedented rate.
Once the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but that's ending at a blinding pace.
The new 'global economy' means that middle class American workers have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and practically no regulations.
If the socialism the Tea Party is shouting about means anything in the U.S. anymore it refers to the golden circle of the super rich, who are profiting at unheard of rates whilst the rest of this nation suffers.
U.S. Corporations have grown massively rich exploiting third world labor pools, but middle class American workers have increasingly lost out.
Here are the statistics to prove it:
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are now in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 10 years ago. (Thanks George!).
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans. (Thanks George!)
• 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.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.
• 61 percent of Americans 'always or usually' live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 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, U.S. banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth than all individual Americans put together.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
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. We're becoming the Chinese and the Indian labor market.
The proof is all around us, the American Middle Class is dying - and once it is gone it will take decades to rebuild, if that's even possible now, the way things are going.
To view the statistics quoted in this article CLICK HERE
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Posted by rabblerouser on Nov 07, 2010, 01:01 PM EST
All too true...When will we Middle Classers decide to combine our voices together to do something about it?
Posted by WatchingMedia on Sep 07, 2010, 05:54 AM EDT
Its not over until the Tea Party has their shot.
The Dems have been in control of the Finances since Jan 2007 when they took over the House and Senate and all important Committees. It went downhill from then
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 12, 2010, 11:37 PM EDT
I think that's what YOU may be suffering from, hollabackgurl...because that's the second time you've posted that. That was comical!
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 12, 2010, 10:18 AM EDT
The Republicans are hoping for a nationwide outbreak of amnesia in 2010. Because they don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas.
Posted by susanna on Aug 08, 2010, 08:45 PM EDT
marym232- you are "spot on!"
Posted by susanna on Aug 08, 2010, 08:43 PM EDT
The Republicans in the U.S. thought the middle class had too much power, education, etc. Under Reagan, they started doing away with the middle class (the Air Traffic Controllers Union)because the Republicans feel the wealthy know best how to run the country. Read "The Conservative Mind." It's working. U.S is in deep doo doo.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 08, 2010, 07:27 PM EDT
The Republicans are betting on amnesia in 2010. But they don’t have a single idea that’s different from George Bush’s ideas.
Posted by hancock on Aug 05, 2010, 11:29 PM EDT
If you did't have a job for seven years you either didn't want one or you are an absolute moron.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 04, 2010, 06:20 PM EDT
Actually, on the matter of where the bulk of California's populace was born, I stand corrected...just barely. It was only confirmed just last year that the majority of CA's populace is now native-born. From SFGate.com, 4-21-09, article titled, 'CA Shows Increase in Native Population' by Tyche Hendricks [BEGIN QUOTE]: "For the first time in history, a majority of California residents were born and raised in the Golden State - a demographic sea change for a place that has long been defined as a land of migrants from other states and countries, according to a study released Monday by researchers at the University of Southern California." [END QUOTE]
Posted by MaryM232 on Aug 04, 2010, 02:56 PM EDT
In the past, many from other states in the US flocked to California, most especially during the dust bowl period before and during the great depression, that said, they were US citizens, their children and subsequent generations lived and died in California, The vast majority of the citizen population of California were born in California. In the US, the concept of citizenship isn't transitory.
To Hollabackgirl, Bush was bad, he wasn't a true republican or conservative, I say that as a former democrat, now an independent. Bush is a neo-con, which isn't conservative or republican. You can't claim some mythical higher ground for Obama, he not only was in there with Bush promoting TARP, he helped US and foreign banks and corporations loot TARP and the stimulus, he owns the destruction of our economy. It was Bill Clinton a democrat who pushed through the corrupt trade deals that endorsed and subsidized the outsourcing of our manufacturing jobs, for his own profit, and the democrats have been behind that continued displacement and much more. They're despicable people and morons who blind themselves to these facts deserve all that they will receive from those they prop up, despite the facts being out there.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 03, 2010, 01:34 PM EDT
Oh, and mhichil...the majority of California's populace has always been from out of state. Plus the massive amounts of illegal aliens the state has let in and does nothing about isn't helping, much. But then, most states that have been run by liberals are bankrupt and dying, nowadays.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 03, 2010, 01:31 PM EDT
You're getting better, hollabackgurl -- you didn't say 'George W bush' until 10 words in, this time (even though the first ten were merely a run-up to it). And...I'm not exactly 'counting chickens' -- I'm merely reading polls, none of which show a single good thing for your guy Obama...in fact the numbers just keep getting worse and worse for him. From today's USAGallup poll [BEGIN QUOTE]: "Only 41% of those surveyed Tuesday through Sunday approved of the way Obama is handling his job, his lowest rating in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll since he took office in January 2009. In Gallup's separate daily tracking poll, his approval was at 45% Monday." [END QUOTE] Btw I'm neither a Repub nor a Tea Partier, however you are indeed a partisan Obama Democrat.
Posted by mhichil on Aug 03, 2010, 01:15 PM EDT
I was a civil service worker unemployed since post 911, 7 years with no job in the GOP economy while GM was building factories in China and South America. The Bush legacy of nation building forgot to put his trillion dollar war in the budget and the bills came due at the bank under Obama in the age of accountability. GM invested overseas but took the bailout money to pay for it. You may be speaking for a majority of conservatives, I&P, but the majority population in california are not even born here, thanks to Bush and his nation building. The GOP is hoping americans have a short memory.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 03, 2010, 11:05 AM EDT
Why does the GOP even want to extend Bush tax cuts? They've exploded the deficit then the stimulus, TARP and two wars combined.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 03, 2010, 03:12 AM EDT
The reason we have a historic deficit now is that George W Bush spent billions starting two gigantic wars and giving tax cuts to the rich without paying for them. He had no plan to pay for any of it and he didn't. Then Wall Street helped him by requiring historic bailouts to prevent the destruction of the American economy. That was the Bush years in a nutshell. You think the GOP have anything to offer in 2010 but more tax cuts for the rich whilst they further bankrupt the nation then you're crazy. Keep shouting about November. You Tea Partiers sure believe in counting your chickens.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 02, 2010, 11:40 PM EDT
hollabackgurl...look at you. Instead of disputing a single thing I said, you click right back into it without missing a beat -- the very opening words of your post were 'George W. Bush' (and, conspicuously, NOT 'Barack H. Obama'...probably because there's not much he's done that's worth gloating on). Pardon my saying so, but you're stuck on Bush. You're stuck in the past, living back in 2008 (or earlier) whilst the rest of us have moved forward to the present-day, when the electorate is much more disappointed at (and electrified against) Obama, than we are wallowing in memories of Bush. Screaming 'Bush! Bush! Bush!' in the face of the electoral tsunami headed your way this November is like trying to stop a tidal wave with a trash can lid...pretty futile. And...seems to me Obama has run up more of a deficit since he's been in office than anyone ever has -- and that is why the conservative MAJORITY (you left out that word) is fairly up-in-arms about it...hence one big reason for the trouble Obama is now in.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 02, 2010, 09:38 PM EDT
George W. Bush believed that broad-based tax cuts would pay for themselves, and so does every other charlatan and crank in the GOP. Contemporary conservatives (unlike those of old) do not think deficits matter. They believe deficits caused by tax cuts are fine; but spending increases brought in by Democrats are diabolical. The destruction of fiscal credibility could be the outcome of the policies of the party that considers itself the most patriotic.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 02, 2010, 06:20 PM EDT
That's right, hollabackgurl...the facts speak for themselves. You can keep on your left-wing drumbeat about supply-side economics (which work one hell of a lot better than your Marxism-Leninism, which you didn't even deny espousing) all you want -- it doesn't change the FACT that Barack Obama and his silly, lousy party are in deep sheep puckey this November, because they are governing against the will of the American majority on virtually everything.
Posted by Monsoonman on Aug 02, 2010, 09:41 AM EDT
LOL...There was a Governor of a state that was against tax increases, but he encouraged those that wanted tax increases on the taxpayers to pay for cradle to grave socialism to make voluntary deposits into a special fund he had set up just for that purpose. One donor deposited 1,000.00, after 6 months the fund had a total of 1,400.00....So much for the egalitarian liberals who love to spend other peoples hard earned money.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 02, 2010, 08:17 AM EDT
The facts speak for themselves - and you don't keep voting for the GOP's same failed supply-side policies in the hope of getting a different result.
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 02, 2010, 03:16 AM EDT
And btw, Hollabackgurl...the top ONE percent of Americans also currently cover more that FORTY percent of federal income taxes. Or...is that not enough for you? How about YOU chip in a lot more, instead of insisting that OUR tax dollars do so? We're working people out here, hollabackgurl! We...cannnot...afford...more...taxes!!! Get government OFF our backs! I might ask when will YOU recognize that socialism and flat-out Marxism-Leninism (both of which you advocate, lock, stock and barrel) do not work and can never last?
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 02, 2010, 03:12 AM EDT
Hollabackgurl, no one cares what Alan Greenspan is saying. With revenue all across the board dropping like a lead weight through open air (and most of it merely printed and borrowed at the expense of our grandchildren), we CANNOT AFFORD yet another (and in this case, MASSIVE) tax increase...which is what we'll get by default come January. But, if you want to have even less of your own money, be my guest -- it's your loss. But do not ask that we also lose more of OUR money.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 01, 2010, 09:32 PM EDT
Just today the Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the push by congressional Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts without offsetting the costs elsewhere would "disastrous" for our economy. "Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts — in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses, too. But now they've turned Wall Street into a Las Vegas style casino for the prosperous classes.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 01, 2010, 08:54 PM EDT
The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income. How much more will they have to purloin before the GOP and people like IrishandProud even recognizes there's a problem?
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 01, 2010, 08:10 PM EDT
And McNamara...what are you talking about? The so-called 'stimulus' did NOTHING for the economy, beyond give it a false sugar high with money we don't have (deepening the problem in the process) -- and as every single economic news story and indicator says, even THAT...HAS...ENDED. One would think if this silly 'stimulus' had been even remotely what it was cracked up to be, that it would have had -- and would still have -- vastly more public support than it does. Goodness sakes, McNamara...can't you and Hollabackgurl find better stuff to support your cases with than the discredited 'experts' and a sugar-high 'stimulus'?
Posted by IrishAndProud on Aug 01, 2010, 08:03 PM EDT
Hollabackgurl, the definition of an 'economic expert' is someone who's always surprised at everything that happens. I cannot believe you actually still hold such people up as the ones to be believed when they're so thoroughly discredited, on a nearly daily basis. Just read or watch literally ANY news report about the economy and you'll find the words 'worse/more than expected' and/or 'stunning economic experts who had expected something better,' etc, usually in the very first paragraph...whilst we common, ordinary working folk out here in the REAL world just shake our heads and go 'yeah, what's so stunning? We've known all this stuff from day one.' So...your question should actually be asked, in reverse. The American people don't believe in economic 'experts' because they're always wrong...so why should we?
Posted by McNamara31 on Aug 01, 2010, 03:33 PM EDT
What some try to call Socialism, other credentialed economists have reported the following:
"McCain’s Economist stated,” Dem Policies Averted Great Depression, Saved 8.5 Million Jobs.”
"In a July 28, 2010 Report, by Mark Zandi, an economic advisor to John McCain and Chief Economist at Moodys.com, and Mark Blinder, an economics professor at Princeton and former Vice Chair of the Fed, found that “the U.S. economy has made Enormous progress since the dark days of early 2009.”
Excerpts state: We find that its effects on real GDP, jobs, and inflation are Huge, and probably averted what could have been called "Great Depression 2.0." Employment would be less by some 8½ million jobs, and the nation would now be experiencing deflation.
The stimulus has done what it was supposed to do: end the Great Recession and spur recovery. We do not believe it a coincidence that the turnaround from recession to recovery occurred last summer, just as the ARRA was providing its maximum economic benefit."
Posted by Searlit on Aug 01, 2010, 03:01 PM EDT
There used to be anti-trust laws that kept companies competitive. Now, too much is owned by too few, and they have been re-writing the rules to suit themselves. That's corruption!
Posted by Monsoonman on Aug 01, 2010, 12:50 PM EDT
Are you talking about the groucho marx economists you use to foist your economic schemes on us with? Even the nobel proize winner Paul krugman is starting to come to his senses, but he was your pied piper than led you to the economic sea cliff. Capitalism works, but capitalism saddled with marxist socialism is crippled and bankrupt. Socialism is a bankrupt way of doing business, it lowers the playing field for everyone and takes away incentives. It is the labor unions being in charge of setting their own wages and bennies without regard to market conditions, it eventually topples from its own incompetence.
Posted by hollabackgurl on Aug 01, 2010, 07:28 AM EDT
Economists don't believe in trickle down theory so why should we?
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