Why do people believe the middle class is shrinking or becoming poorer?

Question

We've been hearing this since the 70's.

The Census Bureau tracks historical household income. It in fact shows the opposite. ALL income levels show increasing real income over time. They provide both a current dollar income (inflation not factored in) table and a constant dollar (inflation factored in) table.

It clearly shows ALL income groups making good gains over time, with ups and downs along the way. It also shows that the rich are getting richer faster, but the poor and middle class are getting richer too. And when there are dips, the rich are losing income just like the poor and middle class.

So why are liberal politicians and people like Lou Dobbs trying to scare us into believing there is a "war on the middle class" or that the middle class is shrinking?

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h01ar.html

Kelly B - It's true Mean income is only $46k, but that's up too over time. 10 years earlier it was only $43k in constant (inflation adjusted) dollars. Again, no shrinkage.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h06ar.html

Lots of odd opinions. 2 jobs? I guess middle class people never worked 2 jobs until just recently? Bull. Credit cards? Come on.

Answer 1

Who did decide that Lou Dobbs is the specialist in the matter ?
He read papers... any paper... and (do we have to ?) believe him ?
You are right posting this question
In fact, official figures show that people are getting wealthier, but also more into debts (because they use the available credit money to make more money... Normal !)
The Middle class is also slowly splitting towards the two edges: the poorer and the richer, but meanwhile there is always a newer middle class rising up to fill in the gap... It is a never ending economic trend in modern societies.

Answer 2

because wages are not keeping up with inflation.
you can pull out all of the charts and graphs that you want, but in the 60s my grandfather was making more money doing the same jobs Americans are doing today.
at that time you could still buy several loaves of bread for an hour's worth of wage on minimum wage. Today, minimum wage, even though far greater, will not buy you 4 loaves.

credit card subscription fees are killing the small business. They either have a choice to pay them, or not accept credit cards which greatly diminishes their business. This has a great impact on every community that these businesses are in, lowering the standard of living for many.

while you can sit there and claim that this government group says this or that about how our economy is doing, many middle class wages have not kept up with inflation. nor has the poverty level been changed for quite sometime.
if you don't change the poverty level, while inflation is rising, of course the data is going to look pretty.

Losing money to the wealthy, is not making as much money as they projected they would make.
example: if they project a net profit of 10 million for the year, and only net 7 million by the year's end, they claim they have lost 3 million. for most people in America, that isn't a loss at all.

That data also, probably doesn't tell you how many of those middle class families have people in them working two and three jobs, to maintain their "income growth".

Answer 3

They use subliminals and they are very powerful. The ignorance these people bring with them when they turn on the tv or radio comes from low IQ and living in an environment filled with other ignorant people. They have so many viewers because they are addicted to it like it is a drug. Then they make them sick from what they hear and see and they go to the doctor and end up on medications that are filled with things to shrink their ability to think for themselves and tune into their intutuion. The churches, drug companies, etc are all in this together.

Answer 4

The only time we had a true middle class in this country was following the depression for about 20 years. Since then, the middle class has been disappearing with the lower class and high class having an even greater disparity.

Answer 5

I work 2 jobs to stay in the "middle class." Am I skewing the curve? If you actually sit down and listen to Lou Dobbs, you'll find a lot of his observations are right on the money. Look at the H1-B program. It is nothing more than the government catering to Bill Gates and company demanding more "cheap skilled labor" under the guise of there being a shortage of technical skills in this country. The jobs these foreign scabs take in this country are jobs you and your family can no longer compete for. Ya think this is why interest in Computer Science and Information Technology is shrinking in colleges?

Answer 6

I am not certain how you are interpreting that data because it is a fact that in the last 10 years the income gap between the top 20% and the bottom 20% is closing and pretty fast.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070701201754AAsEByI&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMiTdWWed_aTxblnSN_.Bdbh5U1xo6o9KXVQ--&paid=answered#TcEqPVLjLFGajEv2zlBi

What will happen if we shift further left is the middle class will disappear completely, it will be the ruling class and the subjects of that ruling class.

It sounds as if you have fallen for the Marxist line on class warfare.

Answer 7

Probably because it's true. I have a pretty good job and get paid well enough to be considered upper middle class by most, but I still couldn't go a month without work. So I'm pretty much just getting by, that's pretty poor. This is without a ton of debt.

Answer 8

Progress creates rising expectations which it can never catch up with.

Progresss creates changes, most of which look negative in the short run, but are positive in the long run.

So it always looks like things are getting worse even when they're getting better.

Answer 9

They teach it in college. It goes something like this: "The US is becoming a 'service economy.' Because the big bad corporate CEO hates Americans and keeps outsourcing, hiring illegals and getting government subsidies."

Then, some of us get out of college and find a way to make a living. We tend to live in neighborhoods with other people who have managed to do the same.

There have been some housing upsets, but no one really knows why. I suspect homeowners' insurance is partly to blame, at least in some markets. I suspect war prices on materials are to blame in others.

But for a war-time economy, we are doing okay. I wouldn't say the middle class is shrinking. But if the Democrats gain the Presidency and the Congress, they could well squeeze the middle class out of existence.

Answer 10

I actually know more middle class people today than I did say 10 or 20 years ago. I don't think it's shrinking but I have noticed some middle class moving to upper middle class or even wealthy...maybe that's where they are going.