Census: Middle class shrinks to an all-time low (Obama's Fault)

washington post ^ | 9/12/2012 | By Carol Morello

[tobyhill]

The vise on the middle class tightened last year, driving down its share of the income pie as the number of Americans in poverty leveled off and the most affluent households saw their portion grow, new census data released Wednesday showed.

Income inequality increased by 1.6 percent, the Census Bureau said in its annual report on poverty, income and health insurance. This was the biggest one-year increase in almost two decades and suggested that a trend in place since the late 1970s was picking up steam.

As a snapshot of a nation recovering from one of its worst recessions ever, the census report had both shadows and highlights. Median household income declined $777, to $50,054 before taxes. But the poverty rate, which many experts had predicted would rise to rates unseen in nearly half a century, inched down a hair to 15 percent, a decline of about 100,000 people. And fewer Americans were without health insurance, largely because of a provision in the 2010 health-care law allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ policies.

[txrefugee]

Forget about the Middle East. Romney and Ryan need to hammer these statistics from the Census Bureau in every speech starting tomorrow. There should not be a voter at the ballot box who hasn’t heard how poor Americans have become during this doofuss’s four years of squatting in the White House.

[Graewoulf]

BUMP!

[Just mythoughts]

Obama did promise Joe the Plumber to redistribute this nation's wealth. I doubt he needs four more years to complete his mission.

[Tzimisce]

Using Marx’s ideas to help the middle class is like using Hitler’s ideas to help the Jews.

Communist Manifesto says on page 1 the middle class is the enemy.

[Rudder]

As in most discussions about the “Middle Class,” the missing, essential information is an operational definition of “Middle Class.”

[Paladin2]

"The Census Bureau does not have an official definition of the "middle class,"..."

QED

[Paladin2]

“The middle class by one definition consists of an upper middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment as well as high economic security; and a lower middle class, consisting of semi-professionals. While the groups overlap, differences between those at the center of both groups are considerable.”

[Rudder]

“The middle class by one definition consists of an upper middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment as well as high economic security; and a lower middle class, consisting of semi-professionals. While the groups overlap, differences between those at the center of both groups are considerable.”

Great. Thanks.

I also gather that they are preponderant among the electorate.

[Paladin2]

At a minimum I think one needs to look at age, education, current income and net worth. The philosophical leanings need to be included too, but are more problematic to evaluate.

It's really amazing that no one wants to put forth a solid definition. Better to just pander.

[KoRn]

By their very nature, the left/socialists HATE the middle class. They would prefer to have either a permanent underclass which will depend on them for their very existence, keeping them in power with a massive welfare state or an uber wealthy class which will exist for wealth extraction either by massive taxation or contributions/crony payoffs.

A large vibrant middle class has enough to where they have no need for government handouts. Their only need is for the government to stay out of their way. The middle class to socialists/leftists is like Holy Water to a Vampire. The very idea of it terrifies them.

The left and elites have come a long way in eliminating the middle class, with the off-shoring of jobs during the past 15 or so years. In many areas, much of the middle class that remains work for the government themselves, and this is a near ideal scenario for the left.