Decline of Middle Class Not Obama's Fault

CNN ^ | September 5, 2012 | LZ Granderson

[Son House]

This is why Pew found that "85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living." We're working just as hard as in years past, but we're behind the 8-ball because for most of the country, wages are not even set to meet the cost of living.

Indeed, some of us are closer to being poor than middle class and don't know it. The 2011 middle class median income started at $39,418 for a family of three. Yet Pew found some families making less than $30,000 still self-identified as middle class, even though they're closer to the nation's bottom fifth, according to the U.S. Census.

How does this translate on the ground? The starting salary for K-12 teachers in 42 states is below the $39,418 bar of median middle class salaries. Beyond the basic necessities, such as food, housing and a car to get to work, many young teachers are paying back student loans. So if there's a young teacher with a family -- say in a state like Ohio, where the starting salary is $31,876 -- there's a good chance that person is poor, not middle class.

The starting salary for a New York firefighter is $43,074. Now, that may sound like a lot of money until you realize that "a New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston," according to the Center for an Urban Future. Depending on the neighborhood, full-time day care in New York can cost a family about $25,000 a year.

[Son House]

Had this CNN Contributor did a little research on the data he wished to report on, he would have wrote an informed article on how Obama's tax increases will cause a decline in the real wages of the middle class.

Here's the data;

And if that ain't obvious enough that raising taxes will lower real wages, look what else the new ideas of Obama can promise, a "middle-class life". The CNN Contributor seems to have no clue what policies will increase the quality of life for the middle class, but the CNN Contributor sure knows all about the middle class in decline...

Obama

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

Just know the decline will be on it's way if the CNN Contributor convinces enough voters Romney is "really just a rich guy preying on the emotions of a middle class in long decline"...

[grundle]

Having a prosperous society with a large, economically healthy middle class is something which requires a large respect for the rule of law. Obama has no respect for the rule of law, and it is largely his fault (as well as that of other people in power who share his beliefs) that the middle class is declining.

My belief in this is so strong that last night, I started this thread, which I encourage everyone to read, and to share with those whom they think might be interested:

Here are 95 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, and cronyism

[Lazamataz]

NOTHING is EVER OTrauma's fault.

EVER.

[GeorgeWashingtonsGhost]

The United States’ ‘Global Competitiveness’ rating has plummeted from #1 (Bush’s last year in office) to #7 under OBAMA’S WATCH. Just a coincidence? NO.

[Joe Boucher]

“Not Obama’s Fault”?
Yeah,
It’s never this magic negro’s fault. Nothing ever is unless it makes him look good.
It this marxist punk NEVER going to take responsibility?
What a worthless piece of excrement.

[Paisan]

What a worthless piece of excrement.

Whattya got against excrement ?

At least it can be used to promote growth...

[andyk]

What a stupid opinion piece. That is all.

[Republican Wildcat]

Not Obama’s fault...so the increase in our utility bills which squeezes us caused by directly by his regulations isn’t his fault? Increase in getting your air conditioners recharged - or having to have your entire system replaced when otherwise you would not have had to - isn’t his fault due to the banning of the most common coolant for the systems by his radical EPA? The loss of jobs from the medical device tax and the squeeze it will put on the injured and sick from the increased costs from the tax itself and the increased scarcity aren’t the same? Increase in premiums caused by his healthcare law aren’t his fault? Blocking middle class jobs through the pipeline, etc. aren’t his fault? Dramatic increases in the public debt from his policies and budget requests aren’t his fault? Etc, etc, etc, etc....

[Steely Tom]

Nothing bad is Obama’s fault.

Everything good is a direct result of Obama’s brilliant leadership.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Complaining that wages don’t keep pace with the cost of living while politicians (especially obama) permit illegal invaders to enter the country and to work - and then not being able to recognize that as a big cause of collapsing wages - well, you might be a democrat.

[Tzimisce]

Karl Marx wanted to get RID of the middle class.

So Obama's implementing all of Marx's ideas and we can't figure out why the Middle class is disappearing?

[Theoria]

Duh. The middle class has been losing ground for decades. Obama didn't start it, but he might finish it.

[mjp]

more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living."

Average money wage rates depends on amount of the demand for labor and supply of labor. The demand for labor depends on the amount of productive expenditure. Productive expenditure depends on saving. Confiscatory taxation,government borrowing, and inflation due to creation of money out of thin air, all of which are necessary to finance libtard policies that require huge government budget deficits,are assaults on saving.

The demand for labor also depends on private ownership of the means of production which depends on respect for property rights.Libtard policies such as redistributionism, egalitarianism, and confiscatory taxation are an assault on private property.

A rise in the demand for labor results in an increase in average real wage rates and rising standard of living for the average worker only when it is based on a fall in net consumption(including government spending that takes place at the expense of productive expenditure).

[genghis]

gosh
could it have anything to do with the fact that the feds steal 25% of gdp??
and don’t forget the enormous price distortions the tax system causes
naw- probably caused because of bain capital

[jeffc]

Decline of middle-class is not Obama's fault? Oh wait, let me guess..... it's still Bush's fault?

[43north]

Didn’t we read somewhere recently that the total value of welfare, Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 vouchers, etc. etc. ad nauseum for a “family of four” was over $40,000?

Why work?

[sauropod]

read

[Soul of the South]

“Complaining that wages don’t keep pace with the cost of living while politicians (especially obama) permit illegal invaders to enter the country and to work - and then not being able to recognize that as a big cause of collapsing wages - well, you might be a democrat.”

There are three major reasons for the decline of the middle class:

1) Deindustrialization of the United State starting with the globalization/free trade policies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton (NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO) and perpetuated under George W. Bush and Obama. These policies put US manufacturing labor (and the middle class incomes it supported) in direct competition with third world wages and government subsidized factories. Other government policies (regulations, tax) encouraged the movement of investment capital outside the US to Asia.
2) Open immigration policies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Millions of undocumented workers allowed to flood the market, competing with American middle class workers for low end jobs.
3) Federal Reserve money printing to keep interest rates at artificially low levels in order to prop up the housing market, keep interest rates on government debt low, and support undercapitalized banks. Ten years of interest rates on savings below the rate of inflation, plus the rupturing of the real estate bubble, have decimated the savings of the middle class.

We should be honest. Obama is merely perpetuating the anti middle class economic policies of his Republican and Democrat predecessors. Both political parties have strongly supported open borders, globalization, free trade, low interest rates, the movement of capital to third world countries, and a weak dollar for over 20 years. The beneficiaries have been the multinational corporations, Wall Street, the entitlement classes, and the government bureaucrats.

We’ve now reached the point where the 21st century “service economy” heralded by the globalists of the 1990’s is unable to sustain the entitlement society and a thriving entrepreneurial middle class. The middle class is in a rapid state of decline after a decade of stagnant incomes and job losses. There are not enough middle class private sector jobs to employ college graduates and what remains of the middle class can no longer support the tax base required to employ new graduates in government jobs. The United States is quickly evolving into the third world model where a small elite upper class (the 1%) retains most of the wealth of the society and lords over the underemployed impoverished masses trying to survive from day to day. Within 20 years, every city will be Detroit.

[Noob1999]

The 2011 middle class median income started at $39,418 for a family of three.

snip

The starting salary for K-12 teachers in 42 states is below the $39,418 bar of median middle class salaries. So if there’s a young teacher with a family — say in a state like Ohio, where the starting salary is $31,876 — there’s a good chance that person is poor, not middle class......................................

So we go from a middle class family bar of $39,400, to a young teacher earning $31,900 starting salary, plus incredible benefits. Boo Hoo!

Who said that the young teacher had to feed a family of three - or just herself - or conversely, what does her husband earn to contribute to the family fortunes???

Then, what does she do with her summers?? If she works for 3/4th of the year, that’s a wage above $20 per hour, not even counting the employment opportunities she may have for another five weeks off during the school year.

At that wage rate, doing year-round work, her starting salary would equate to annual wages of $42,500, plus benefits.

How many new college graduates earn $42,500 per year, plus benefits, starting out in their career???

Again, BooHoo!

[CaspersGh0sts]

The other matter about wages not keeping pace is that they use the example of New York City. Who freaking cares?

If it costs too much to live in New York City, MOVE! Businesses should do the same thing. It’s simply not competitive to pay higher wages when things are over-priced. How about setting up shop in Nebraska?