Posted on 09/15/2012 3:07:16 AM PDT by tobyhill
The poor stayed poor and the rich got richer, but the middle slipped a few more rungs down the economic ladder.
More than five years after the Great Recession began, the lingering impact of the worst downturn in a half-century continues to deplete the standard of living of middle-class American households.
Median household income, after adjusting for inflation, fell 1.5 percent last year to $50,054, according to the Census Bureau's annual report on income and poverty issued released Wednesday. The poverty rate, at 15 percent, remained stuck at the highest level since 1993.
(Excerpt) Read more at economywatch.nbcnews.com ...
Let’s pause for a second.
Since the 1970s...most of the major things we want in life...are no longer manufactured in the US (TVs, radios, steros, computers, laptops, refrigerators, washers, car parts, etc). Almost every decade...there’s more added to the list of things built or manufactured off-shore. Nothing is reversing that trend.
When Reagan and Congress (Republicans and Democrats) built up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac....they developed a simple method of the government helping to get you a chance to own a house. Over three decades...that process went into turbo mode and pricing schemes (beyond anything that Reagan or the House members could have seen) developed into a giant bubble which had to collapse. It happened in 2008, but it could have easily happened in 2010 under the Obama administration. Tens of thousands of houses sit empty now, with banks holding them. No magic formula is in view for the foreseeable decade to fix the empty house situation or the under-water mortgage situation that many home-owners face.
At least five states face major economic woes with their pension schemes for state employees. Various cities around the US have promised pensions that cannot be maintained unless massive property or sales taxes go into effect on a population cannot afford them.
Health costs are reaching a point where people have doubts over Medicare and its future. Some idiots are smart enough to go without any health insurance, then show up at the emergency room with a major issue....to pay $400 an hour for superior emergency room service. They don’t worry about the cost because they will never pay the bill.
Blame Bush? It might work with naive people who never sit down and ask questions. There’s a massive problem here which doesn’t really rest with either political party. We’ve put incompetent fools in charge of our local, state, and federal government and expected them to act and behave like professionals. We’ve gotten less than what we expected.
Luckily, we’re not all simpletons like the idiots at NBC.
Incompetent fools in a criminal enterprise, DANGEROUS
Sadly, it might work.
The media blamed Hoover and the Republicans during all through the 1930’s for FDR’s horrid policies.
I take heart in the “blame Bush” thing; it indicates Obama knows he will probably lose his re-election bid. What else could an incompetent token defend himself with, except blaming Bush?
They going to blame Bush soon for Killing Bin Laden and bragging about it
That’s why I post on Twitter and Facebook every good article I find on sites like newsmax, cns, Spectator, Breitbart and all the other alternative sites.
The Bush recession ended over three years ago, and that is when any legitimate excuse for blaming Bush ended. The reason the “recovery” is so slow and neither jobs nor prosperity are returning is that Obama’s policies kill jobs.The far left does not confine their evil to envy and theft of property or killing innocent unborn children; they also lie almost compulsively.
You’re probably right.
How bizarre was that, to hear Dems loudly proclaiming the death of bin Laden? I think the “bounce” from that has been lost in the smoke of burning embassies...
>> .they developed a simple method
You omitted the disastrous effect of the CRA. And the leniency that permitted putting essential capital reserves at risk. No, this was in no way a tenet Reaganomics.
BTW, Emblem/HIP is planning a 40% rate increase in the very near future. FORTY PERCENT!!!!
It is a step into the twilight zone. Obama brags about killing
a man who is considered their “top Jihad”. He places blame on an unknown film clip. The lapdogs lap it up.
Yeah... today we don’t have the communications and alternate media and the internet and Free Republic and failure at every step of the presidents path... so it will happen again.
LLS
There is a sizable percentage of people who know better, but then that was the case in the 30’s too.
My grandparents detested FDR, but the history books say that everyone loved him.
Not everyone. Have a great day... off to make a dollar before it is worth a dime.
LLS
The “poor” are subsidized to the point that their standard of living approaches that of the middle class. No jobs? No problem.
The “rich” are in capital preservation mode, looking for any and every opportunity to eke out a safe return, if they have access to such opportunities. Quick in and out speculation, ride the spike a short way up then start betting against it and driving it back down again. Volatility is their friend. In this, they are joined by the pension funds.
The middle class needs the jobs. The middle class has few options for eking out a return from what capital they’ve managed to preserve. Their wealth is in large measure tied up in their homes, which have fallen precipitously in value. Those who resisted the siren call of refinance and carrying a huge debt load are faring OK so long as employment holds out. Those who didn’t are a pink slip away from bankruptcy.
Unless, of course, you’re talking about middle class government workers, who are still getting raises, who throw a hissy over a piddling 16% raise and go on strike, flouncing around on television in all their smug, fat, entitled yet oddly sour glory.
If there is justice in the world, these parasites will experience fear and loss as well. They’re killing their host and seem pleased rather than concerned that their meal ticket is drying up and blowing away. Smoke and mirrors with play money perpetuates the illusion.
You need to make a distinction between state, country, or federal workers.
Federal employees have had their pay frozen for the last 2 years, and next year the propsed pay raise is still projected to be 0.0%. We need to stay within the facts here at Free Republic, there is enough disinformation out there between the MSM and the Democrats.
No pay cuts, no layoffs. Just a casual perusal of resale prices for residential real estate in the DC bubble tells the tale. This is also true of most state capitol cities as well.
Government workers have been insulated from the effects of this undeclared depression. The funding for this comes from where? The private sector.
Spin all you want, there’s a day of reckoning coming.
If Romney's elected, NBC will hold Romney responsible for everything - from day one.
NBC is consistent - consistently in the tank for Democrats.
I don’t think any undecided voters are placing responsibility anywhere but on Obama.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.