Class dismissed: Why middle income jobs are not coming back

NY Post ^ | November 13, 2010 | MAUREEN CALLAHAN

[Scanian]

Anne, 45, has always considered herself middle-class: As a single mom earning $65,000 a year in ad sales, she was able to rent a one-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side for $1,000 a month and send her daughter, now 12, to private school. “I was able to make it,” she says. “Even go on vacation sometimes.”

In the span of 15 months, she has come to define herself as poor — even if the government won’t, denying her multiple applications for welfare and food stamps because, she says, she once made “too much money.”

Upon losing her job in June 2009 — her company was going under — “I was plunged into immediate poverty,” she says. “It was a surprise attack.”

Anne has borrowed money from her sister and her retired parents — who are struggling themselves — to pay the rent; she applied for a Section 8 and was able to slash it in half, to $500 a month. She depleted her 401(k). She had no savings, was living paycheck-to-paycheck. But she still felt economically safe, given her location and her tax bracket and her white-collar job.

“Now, when I go to the grocery store, I have to decide what is absolutely essential for my child,” Anne says. “Sometimes, I’m eating whatever-in-a-can. A lot of the time, I’m literally walking around without a penny in my pocket.” She deliberates before taking her daughter on a day trip downtown, because a round-trip subway fare will cost $9.

[Scanian]

Obama's "new normal" for America: mediocrity.

This type of article tends to get everyone's motor running. I have no doubt that the FReepers "on duty" this AM will thoroughly dissect it.

[screaminsunshine]

The massacre of 2012 will be absolute.

[x_plus_one]

This poor woman needs to move to where the jobs are for her. The private school will have to wait. It's time to get real and get going. There is work available but not in her neck of the woods.

Sob stories like this don't hold much water upon closer examination.

[truthguy]

What so many fools in the service economy never understood is that services exist to support manufacturing. When your manufacturing sector goes, the services die along with it. This is contrary to what many economists have been saying for the past 20 years. But anyone with common sense should be able to understand this. It seems common sense is so rare among many economists.

We became the richest country in the world because we had capitalism, bountiful natural resources, rule of law, personal freedom and a manufacturing driven economy. If we allow manufacturing to die completely as some here either recommend and even savior, the services will die as well and in a VERY short time. The countries that manufacture the products we import are going to create their own service economies. They DO NOT WANT our services and they will do everything possible to not use them.

It is no consolation that many who are suffering are also Obama voting fools. We all suffer. But to be fair, this situation started long before Obama. It's been happening since the late 1960's and early 1970's at least.

[ari-freedom]

"This poor woman needs to move to where the jobs are for her. The private school will have to wait. It's time to get real and get going. There is work available but not in her neck of the woods. "


She may have to try this place for starters.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“Sob stories like this don’t hold much water upon closer examination. “

Sorry, have to disagree. There are more stories like this and it just isn’t in NY. It is all over the country and happens to good people who had good lives destroyed by bad economic times and an administration who is betting the ranch that they will be able to create a two class system before 2012.

[ari-freedom]

We value American Idol contestants over engineers. Entertainment and humanities over math and science.

[dennisw]

You got that right especially the first paragraph. Some Freepers are so brainwashed they like having Japanese and other foreigners making automobiles on US soil and carting the profits home. Where foreigners, not Americans, are making the big profits from factories in America

I call this the S L A V E mentality
Capitalism is about making profits so they flunk Capitalism 101

[November 2010]

Ever try to sell ads to a foreigner? You’ll starve to death. The foreign companies get sold once by an ad agency and then you better know that agency. The big get bigger . . . and the little can’t afford the subway.

[ari-freedom]

“It’s been happening since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s at least. “

that’s when we lost monetary stability

[CGASMIA68]

“sob stories” like this are becoming the norm.....Obama is successfully orchastrating his Dream by making everyone equal, destoying the dollar and the economy.........

[PastorBooks]

“Ever try to sell ads to a foreigner?”

Could you elaborate on that a bit? I’m curious.

[Outlaw Woman]

Doesn’t get my motor running...after reading that, I’m ready to go hang myself. Geez
there’s no hope, it’s all over, we’re all gonna die...

[Erik Latranyi]

“It’s been happening since the late 1960’s and early 1970’s at least. “

The REAL problem is over-reaching federal and state governments who are taxing and regulating our businesses into oblivion while creating an uneven playing field in favor of thug unions.

[truthguy]

Some Freepers are so brainwashed they like having Japanese and other foreigners making automobiles on US soil and carting the profits home. Where foreigners, not Americans, are making the big profits from factories in America

Yes, you are so correct. They hate the UAW so much that they want to see GM go out of business. In some crazy way this gives them some sense of satisfaction. Now I hate the UAW as much as anyone but I also think we need a domestic auto industry. If we had 7 or 8 strong auto companies, I wouldn't care if GM went Chapter 7. But we are down to just 2-1/2 auto manufacturers.

We cannot let manufacturing die. This is why I go out of my way NOT to buy Chinese products. It's a very difficult thing to do but I've found ways not to buy Chinese. Their currency is very undervalued and this gives them huge advantages in producing anything. They are doing this on purpose to destroy American Manufacturing. Even I, and untrained economist can understand what's happening. I buy American products whenever possible. I use the Internet to make purchases for most things I buy now. I even buy used products on EBAY or Craig's list.

Don't buy Chinese!

[ari-freedom]

yes the unions are a big problem but it’s not as if they suddenly popped up just a few decades ago.
Manufacturing is based on commodities, which are sensitive to inflation/deflation. If you can’t trust the $, you’d go into services since they don’t touch commodities very much.

[ari-freedom]

People buy Japanese cars, Korean cars...but I don’t know anyone who would want to buy a Chinese car, no matter what the price. The Chinese don’t do quality and this is when it really counts. Unfortunately, American cars aren’t the highest quality either.

[truthguy]

“Ever try to sell ads to a foreigner?”

Could you elaborate on that a bit? I’m curious.

I cannot believe you can't understand this post Pastor. His point is that when manufacturing goes, the services go along with them. So a job at an ad agency is because there are companies willing to place adds. If the Ad Agency doesn't have customers, who is going to hire the worker in this situation.

Also you have to remember this is the NY Post. It's the New York mentality. Very little of value is produced in NYC or even the state of New York. Their service economy is crumbling right under their feet and they are still in denial. They cannot grasp the concept that New York simply isn't very important anymore. They have been shuffling paper for a long time and now they just move money back and forth. In fact it's really efficient now with computers. I don't expect to see the middle class coming back to New York City in my lifetime. New York needs to find a way to get back to work.

[truthguy]

You must have been living in a cave for the last 10 years or so. American Car quality is now at the same level as the Japanese or the Koreans and it's higher than the Germans. And most of the really cool new cars are American now. The Japanese cars are so boring and the Korean cars are butt ugly. Now I know a lot of young people today like ugly cars but I can't bring myself to buy one.

Yes you are correct. Most Chinese products are garbage or borderline garbage. But brain damaged Americans will buy foreign products if they are just 1% cheaper. That's pathetic! I don't buy Chinese products if I can help it. I do buy some Korean products in areas where you can't buy anything American. I also go out of the way not to buy Japanese. But it's not hard to not buy Japanese as they don't seem to be making much nowadays. Maybe they listened to the US economists and decided to go down the path to poverty.

[TexasFreeper2009]

nobody wants manufacturing to die, they want the unions to die :)