What Will be Left When There is NO Middle Class?

If you don't believe that the middle class in this country is disappearing and are unwilling to believe 22 separate statistics that proves exactly that, you should move along before reading any further. This would just be a waste of your time.

If, on the other hand, you've noticed your wages being flat over the last decade or so, your buying power diminishing, your jobs disappearing, and you are working harder than you've ever worked and getting less for it, by all means read on and see what wealth redistribution actually looks like.

With no middle class, we are just a plutocracy that exists by and for the wealthy. Democracy was yesterday. Today we are no better than a banana republic.

From The Business Insider

The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.
Here are the statistics to prove it:
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• 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.
• 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.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or 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.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.
Giant Sucking Sound
The reality is that no matter how smart, how strong, how educated or how hard working American workers are, they just cannot compete with people who are desperate to put in 10 to 12 hour days at less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the world. After all, what corporation in their right mind is going to pay an American worker 10 times more (plus benefits) to do the same job? The world is fundamentally changing. 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.
What do most Americans have to offer in the marketplace other than their labor? Not much. The truth is that most Americans are absolutely dependent on someone else giving them a job. But today, U.S. workers are "less attractive" than ever. Compared to the rest of the world, American workers are extremely expensive, and the government keeps passing more rules and regulations seemingly on a monthly basis that makes it even more difficult to conduct business in the United States.
So corporations are moving operations out of the U.S. at breathtaking speed. Since the U.S. government does not penalize them for doing so, there really is no incentive for them to stay.
What has developed is a situation where the people at the top are doing quite well, while most Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to make it. There are now about six unemployed Americans for every new job opening in the United States, and the number of "chronically unemployed" is absolutely soaring. There simply are not nearly enough jobs for everyone.
Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.
But you can't raise a family on what you make flipping burgers at McDonald's or on what you bring in from greeting customers down at the local Wal-Mart.
The truth is that the middle class in America is dying -- and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.


http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticke...7.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA

 

I believe the middle class is fast disappearing. At the rate BO & the elite left is moving there will only be the ruling class & the ruled unless we all wake up- fast!!

 

Yay! I am a minority!

 

LOL. You poor bastid.

 

It's unfortunate that the middle class people of this forum (and I'm playing the percentages assuming that) do not have enough awareness of their own situations to discuss this topic or even discuss this topic as adults. That’s fine but don’t expect me at least to give your opinions any undue credence no matter what the topic. You deserve the respect you earn. Don’t blame me for lowering myself to your level. Capisce!

 

Ok I doubt the middle class will disappear. There certianly wont be a resurgence of nobles and serfs. I know alot of members here see doom and destruction on the horizon. But in the end it will be just another politician currying favor from his or her party. Tell me; are you ready to storm the Bastille? Or do you feel your position safe from the tyranny you suspect will occur if your party loses it majority?

 

I guess Dr moen is confusing us with some of his naive freshmen...notice how upset he gets when we don't marvel in awe over one of his insightful, powerful revelations?
Hmmmm, sorta like tomc when someone doesn't agree with his drivel, huh?

 

I tend not to get too excited by the predictions of doom and gloom but when you see the dramatic decreases in manufacturing jobs in such a short amount of time, flat wages over a decade, more and more wealth concentrated at the top, poverty at levels not seen in 50 years, at some point, you have to look into the doom and gloom just to make sure you haven't been lulled to sleep by the past. The middle class is shrinking substantially in this country and will continue thanks to globalization. When you're willing to work 12-14 hours a day for a buck an hour, you'll be competitive with the overseas workers you're in direct competition with for jobs. I just don't think the middle class can survive given those realities.

 

Then answer your own question.

 

Republicans would say if you're not willing to work for a buck an hour for 12-14 hours a day...you'd be lazy. Almost the same group whines about their Bush tax breaks for the top 2% of income earners (pilferers in their cases). Middle class is on it's last legs no. We manufacture NOTHING except schemes of how to screw the other guy out of their money and call it capitalism. Very low income and mega wealth will soon be the only two categories left. Problem is that's fine for the 2% luxury bathers, but what about the other 98%?
Pretty soon a buck an hour will be considered good money if we all listen to the tan man and Sarah Puke, and Ann "The man" Coulter.

 

Hey tomc, what about that generous offer Jack made to help you?

 

OK...The very, very rich and the very, very poor. Like any third world banana republic. A strong middle class is the only guarantee of democracy. As the middle class dies, so go democracy. Are we now seeing the logical conclusion to the great experiment? It dies with excess greed, Orwellian propaganda, and apathy run amok. Maybe we simply had the amount of democracy we deserved. Every empire comes to an end.

What is that song line, "...we are gluttons for our doom..." I can't even begin to doubt that statement.

 

I hope this doesn't blow my GPA.

 

I almost hate to say this, but somebody should. Voting according to your economic interests alone is idiotic (and, frankly, Marxist). And this is true if you're poor, middle (and Moen, there are plenty of ways to be middle-class without having a manufacturing job) or upper class. If I voted only along economic interests, I would vote for a health care plan that wouldn't cover my wife, my son, and both my parents. All of them have medical issues that are expensive to "the system." If I were voting purely on economic considerations, my love for them wouldn't come in to play, and I'd have to vote accordingly. If I were voting purely my economic interests, I would support the proposed casino near Gettysburg. If economics is the the measure of value of life, preserving the battlefield is idiotic. Life is more than however many dollars I may or may not have in the bank. So is my vote.

 

Without running off on any tangent, of spouting vile hatred for anyone who has accomplished anything, I think Mr Moens facts in his OP are pretty dead on.

 

While our 'middle class' is in a decline...the 'middle class' of the world, as a whole, is exploding. It's part of the global reality. We are not alone any more.

Probably also has to do with our generally being fat, dumb and happy (not to mention an entitlement mindset) while the rest of the world has a drive to make themselves a better life but that might be a tangent.

 

I'm not exactly sure what it is you are trying to say here.

But if I come at it from the other direction, I'd have to ask if it makes any sense to you to vote against your own economic interests for any reason? I don't vote for someone or some party because I agree with one of their positions. I vote of the party that most represents what I want my leaders to embody. Economic issues are certainly in the top 10 of the the more important issues but certainly not the only issue to consider.

Besides, I was talking about and entire economic class not simply my own economic situation. I'm upper middle class.

 

Well, here is the situation. Our goods are being manufactured by third world labor and being shipped back to this country and sold to us at reduced prices. Ever been to Wal-mart? The problem is that since we no longer have the money to buy well-made quality products produced in this country, nor the option since nothing is made here anymore, we spend more and more of our decreasing salaries on less expensive crappy products from the same companies that used to make products in this country. Less quality + for less money + with less income = bigger profits. Eventually, the US market will tank when we can no longer afford to even buy the cheaply made inexpensive overseas products and those that make the products will have moved on to China to exploit that market leaving this country without a viable economic engine. Tariffs would go a long way to slow this process and bring jobs home as well refusing to buy anything made overseas. Protectionism is practiced by China and they are killing us. They control their currency and keep it low and ban foreign products and companies while exploiting our markets. What's wrong with this picture?

 

I asked you before; where do you fit in when this ''have and have nots'' chasm occurs? Will erudition take a back seat to aristocracy?

 

Moen,

It is your opinion that the middle class is disappearing. Do me a favor. Make a list of your ten closest friends an then tell us how many you would classify as middle class.

BTW, my number would be 9.