The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
- Thread starter ironsides
- Start date
There is some cherry picking of data here by those that oppose trade agreements since everyone in business knows that for their product to sell there must be a populace with enough money to buy it. If most people are just scraping by there is no disposable income and even places like rotten ronnies and wendys will be out of business.
You will have to point that out to me as I don't see the 'racist' claim you make..........
Elizabeth Warren’s Crusade Against Disastrous “Free Trade” Agreements
“Free trade” means unrestricted, uncontrolled access to our economy, tariff- and duty-free, for goods made for $4-per-hour or less. We cannot compete with these wages so we are forced to choose between going bankrupt, outsourcing our manufacturing or simply selling out. The U.S. is the largest consumer market in the world. Opening our doors to “free trade” agreements has resulted in job losses, enormous trade deficits and the extinction of many valuable U.S. businesses. Our “free trade” practices are harmful and no longer beneficial.
With so many members of Congress and other notable politicians supporting a number of our damaging “free trade” agreements, it is refreshing to know there are a small number of members of Congress committed to speaking out against the harmful agreements that often wreak havoc on the U.S. economy. One of these is Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Sen. Warren, a staunch supporter of fair trade, has been extremely vocal in her fight against “free trade” agreements. She’s rallied against the Korean – U.S. “free trade” agreement (KORUS) a number of times, and has recently been heard speaking out against the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), calling for greater transparency when negotiating these harmful agreements. In fact, she even sent a letter to President Barack Obama’s nominee to head U.S. trade negotiations that detailed her concerns about President Obama’s lack of transparency in the TPP negotiations.
The root of Sen. Warren’s concern regarding “free trade” agreements stems from the damage that they can and have done to the United States economy. We as a nation have already seen the disastrous implications that resulted from NAFTA. Entire cities were left in shambles, like Detroit. The manufacturing industry was all but destroyed and outsourced to foreign countries, leaving thousands of Americans unemployed. Unfortunately, KOR-US is showing similar signs of economic calamity.
In regards to manufacturing and outsourcing, Sen. Warren believes we need to shift the focus from imports and instead focus on manufacturing American-made products. She believes we must go back to our roots, back to what made America great. That means innovation is key so we can invent and create new products to sell to the rest of the world and aid our ailing economy.
Because she is also a supporter of fair trade, Sen. Warren believes that, to maintain a successful economy, the U.S. must strengthen its trade laws with our trading partners and demand those same trading partners respect workers’ rights and environmental standards.
Elizabeth Warren’s Crusade Against Disastrous “Free Trade” Agreements | Economy In Crisis
“Free trade” means unrestricted, uncontrolled access to our economy, tariff- and duty-free, for goods made for $4-per-hour or less. We cannot compete with these wages so we are forced to choose between going bankrupt, outsourcing our manufacturing or simply selling out. The U.S. is the largest consumer market in the world. Opening our doors to “free trade” agreements has resulted in job losses, enormous trade deficits and the extinction of many valuable U.S. businesses. Our “free trade” practices are harmful and no longer beneficial.
With so many members of Congress and other notable politicians supporting a number of our damaging “free trade” agreements, it is refreshing to know there are a small number of members of Congress committed to speaking out against the harmful agreements that often wreak havoc on the U.S. economy. One of these is Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Sen. Warren, a staunch supporter of fair trade, has been extremely vocal in her fight against “free trade” agreements. She’s rallied against the Korean – U.S. “free trade” agreement (KORUS) a number of times, and has recently been heard speaking out against the highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), calling for greater transparency when negotiating these harmful agreements. In fact, she even sent a letter to President Barack Obama’s nominee to head U.S. trade negotiations that detailed her concerns about President Obama’s lack of transparency in the TPP negotiations.
The root of Sen. Warren’s concern regarding “free trade” agreements stems from the damage that they can and have done to the United States economy. We as a nation have already seen the disastrous implications that resulted from NAFTA. Entire cities were left in shambles, like Detroit. The manufacturing industry was all but destroyed and outsourced to foreign countries, leaving thousands of Americans unemployed. Unfortunately, KOR-US is showing similar signs of economic calamity.
In regards to manufacturing and outsourcing, Sen. Warren believes we need to shift the focus from imports and instead focus on manufacturing American-made products. She believes we must go back to our roots, back to what made America great. That means innovation is key so we can invent and create new products to sell to the rest of the world and aid our ailing economy.
Because she is also a supporter of fair trade, Sen. Warren believes that, to maintain a successful economy, the U.S. must strengthen its trade laws with our trading partners and demand those same trading partners respect workers’ rights and environmental standards.
Elizabeth Warren’s Crusade Against Disastrous “Free Trade” Agreements | Economy In Crisis
They're Buzzards, But You're Their Carrion
We all know that average Americans have been reeling financially since the Great Recession. We know that the post-recession recovery has gone mainly to the richest of the rich and, this time, it's pretty clear there's been no 'trickle down' to the plebes.
A new study by the Russell Sage Foundation in conjunction with Stanford University shows the hit ordinary American families have taken since the recession. In 2003, the median American household wealth stood at $87,992. A decade later that figure had plummeted to just $56,335. In other words, ordinary Americans (the median family) became 36% poorer in the span of just 10-years.
Taking a longer view, from pre-recession 1984, wealth for the 95th percentile has doubled while for the 75th percentile it increased by a third. Median family wealth, however, has dropped 20% from 1984 levels while the 25th percentile has seen their wealth evaporate by a staggering 60%.
The game today is for one select group of people to employ its considerable advantages to mine the remaining wealth out of everyone else. We've become the last, best natural resource and the system has been rigged to effect the greatest unearned transfer of wealth ever.
Thomas Pilger observed: "'Austerity' is the imposition of extreme capitalism on the poor and the gift of socialism for the rich: an ingenious system under which the majority service the debts of the few."
The rich are getting richer and they're doing it on the backs of everyone else. The poor are indeed getting poorer and the very poor are becoming economically eviscerated. Here's the thing. This isn't going to stop on its own. It's going to continue worsening until someone makes it stop. That's you. Don't expect any help from political parties that have already embraced neoliberalism. They're not in your corner. Clinging to them is like clutching an anchor while you’re trying to tread water.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/working_papers/pfeffer-danziger-schoeni_wealth-levels.pdf
We all know that average Americans have been reeling financially since the Great Recession. We know that the post-recession recovery has gone mainly to the richest of the rich and, this time, it's pretty clear there's been no 'trickle down' to the plebes.
A new study by the Russell Sage Foundation in conjunction with Stanford University shows the hit ordinary American families have taken since the recession. In 2003, the median American household wealth stood at $87,992. A decade later that figure had plummeted to just $56,335. In other words, ordinary Americans (the median family) became 36% poorer in the span of just 10-years.
Taking a longer view, from pre-recession 1984, wealth for the 95th percentile has doubled while for the 75th percentile it increased by a third. Median family wealth, however, has dropped 20% from 1984 levels while the 25th percentile has seen their wealth evaporate by a staggering 60%.
The game today is for one select group of people to employ its considerable advantages to mine the remaining wealth out of everyone else. We've become the last, best natural resource and the system has been rigged to effect the greatest unearned transfer of wealth ever.
Thomas Pilger observed: "'Austerity' is the imposition of extreme capitalism on the poor and the gift of socialism for the rich: an ingenious system under which the majority service the debts of the few."
The rich are getting richer and they're doing it on the backs of everyone else. The poor are indeed getting poorer and the very poor are becoming economically eviscerated. Here's the thing. This isn't going to stop on its own. It's going to continue worsening until someone makes it stop. That's you. Don't expect any help from political parties that have already embraced neoliberalism. They're not in your corner. Clinging to them is like clutching an anchor while you’re trying to tread water.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/working_papers/pfeffer-danziger-schoeni_wealth-levels.pdf
Well that is bad news. But, for every cloud there is a silver lining. The beans, tator and peanut butter and jelly industries will thrive.
Do you see the disconnect in your argument? You are criticizing Obama in large part, based on stats that were compiled before he took office. He won his first term election in November 2008 and wasn't sworn in until February 2009. When you quote stats from 2007-2008 or stats that go back 15 years, its not unreasonable to point at the people in office before him... Oh wait, I guess now I'm a raving liberal lunatic...
Seven things the middle class can’t afford any more
In its discussion of historical middle class societies, The Economist reports, “Their members are neither rich nor poor but somewhere in-between…’Middle-class’ describes an income category but also a set of attitudes…An essential characteristic is the possession of a reasonable amount of discretionary income. Middle-class people do not live from hand to mouth, job to job, season to season, as the poor do.”
Some argue that the most sensible income amount to attach to the middle class would be the median household income, of around $54,000.
Perhaps, anyone who earns between the 25th percentile and 75th percentile is a member of the middle class.
Diana Farrell, once Deputy Director of America’s National Economic Council, told The Economist she thinks a middle class income begins at the point where a person (or family) has one-third of their income left over for discretionary purposes after they’ve provided themselves with food and shelter. In other words, someone who earns $3,000 per month would have $1,000 left after they’ve paid their mortgage or rent, utilities, and grocery bills.
Though there is some debate over the exact income a middle class household brings in, we do have an idea of who the middle class are — most working class people. Today’s bourgeoisie is composed of laborers and skilled workers, white collar and blue collar workers, many of whom face financial challenges. Bill Maher reminded us a few months back that 50 years ago, the largest employer was General Motors, where workers earned an equivalent of $50 per hour (in today’s money). Today, the largest employer — Walmart — pays around $8 per hour.
more:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/7-things-the-middle-class-cant-afford-anymore.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3JWYIf9TG
In its discussion of historical middle class societies, The Economist reports, “Their members are neither rich nor poor but somewhere in-between…’Middle-class’ describes an income category but also a set of attitudes…An essential characteristic is the possession of a reasonable amount of discretionary income. Middle-class people do not live from hand to mouth, job to job, season to season, as the poor do.”
Some argue that the most sensible income amount to attach to the middle class would be the median household income, of around $54,000.
Perhaps, anyone who earns between the 25th percentile and 75th percentile is a member of the middle class.
Diana Farrell, once Deputy Director of America’s National Economic Council, told The Economist she thinks a middle class income begins at the point where a person (or family) has one-third of their income left over for discretionary purposes after they’ve provided themselves with food and shelter. In other words, someone who earns $3,000 per month would have $1,000 left after they’ve paid their mortgage or rent, utilities, and grocery bills.
Though there is some debate over the exact income a middle class household brings in, we do have an idea of who the middle class are — most working class people. Today’s bourgeoisie is composed of laborers and skilled workers, white collar and blue collar workers, many of whom face financial challenges. Bill Maher reminded us a few months back that 50 years ago, the largest employer was General Motors, where workers earned an equivalent of $50 per hour (in today’s money). Today, the largest employer — Walmart — pays around $8 per hour.
more:
http://wallstcheatsheet.com/personal-finance/7-things-the-middle-class-cant-afford-anymore.html/?a=viewall#ixzz3JWYIf9TG
Business owner Nick Hanauer has a good idea:
By executive order the President could raise the salary level at which employers are required to pay employees time-and-a-half for every hour worked beyond 40 hours a week.
In 1975, more than 65 percent of salaried workers qualified for such overtime pay, and the threshold for receiving it was $69,000 in today’s dollars. But since then the value of the threshold has eroded to $23,660, so just 11 percent of salaried workers now qualify. If Obama raised the threshold back to the same standard we had in 1975, and everyone earning up to $69,000 got overtime pay, Hannauer estimates 10.4 million middle-class Americans would get a raise.
Or they'd have more time off, and corporate America would have to hire hundreds of thousands of additional workers to pick up the slack—slashing the unemployment rate and forcing up wages.
The right will react to this like they do to raising the minimum wage – calling it a job killer. But in fact, putting more money into the pockets of more workers gives employers more customers, and thereby an incentive to hire more workers.
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/897629283583002
By executive order the President could raise the salary level at which employers are required to pay employees time-and-a-half for every hour worked beyond 40 hours a week.
In 1975, more than 65 percent of salaried workers qualified for such overtime pay, and the threshold for receiving it was $69,000 in today’s dollars. But since then the value of the threshold has eroded to $23,660, so just 11 percent of salaried workers now qualify. If Obama raised the threshold back to the same standard we had in 1975, and everyone earning up to $69,000 got overtime pay, Hannauer estimates 10.4 million middle-class Americans would get a raise.
Or they'd have more time off, and corporate America would have to hire hundreds of thousands of additional workers to pick up the slack—slashing the unemployment rate and forcing up wages.
The right will react to this like they do to raising the minimum wage – calling it a job killer. But in fact, putting more money into the pockets of more workers gives employers more customers, and thereby an incentive to hire more workers.
https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/897629283583002