|
The Numbers Game & America's Vanishing Middle Class
The mass-media is full of so-called business experts, economists, politicians with their press agents from both political parties armed with talking points, and talk show hosts telling middle class America that we as a country have seen the worse of the "Great Recession" and that we on the road to recovery because the stock market is returning to its peaks and that 1.5 million jobs have been created over the past 18 months and the first time weekly unemployment claims are down below 400,000 and personal income is up.
On the other side there is talk about how the recovery could turn south at any moment unless we not only maintain the Bush, now the Obama tax cuts, that we must make addition major tax cuts; because the markets need certainty. Despite recovering stock prices, increased shareholder's value, increasing profits, almost two trillion dollars in cash there is no way businesses will risk creating new jobs without certainty; otherwise having the government assume the moral hazard and risk at taxpayer's expense. After all they have the numbers and figures to backup their professional opinions.
Both sides argue over how they want to save the middle class; that they want to restore the "American Dream." While one side demands tax cuts, the other complains about big business and the wealthy not paying their fair share; even if the government took every single dollar of cash on the books of every United State corporation that would only balance the budget for 15 months. One side demands free markets but believes in government sponsored tax credits allowing companies like GE and Verizon to pay little or even no federal taxes while providing additional tax credits to assist companies transferring or creating jobs overseas. The other side believes in expanding the safety nets until it become a blanket where no one falls through regardless of cost, saying that we can worry about costs when we have recovered from the greatest recession since the Great Depression. For many of us who experienced the 1978-1982 time frame may beg to differ.
Despite each side's view on how to solve the serious problems facing America they have some things very much in common. They are employed, they have high paying jobs, and they know that their family and their own financial futures are very secure. Everyone either gets paid to and or reelected by providing the right numbers. In other words they have serious financial and or political self-interest; a serious professional conflict of interest.
Just who is middle class in America? President Obama has repeatedly stated that middle class includes household incomes up to $250,000 per year. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement report covering 2009 based on 2nd, 3rd and 4th quintile containing almost seventy-one million of the almost 120 million households in America the household income of middle class America ranges from $21,000 to $87,000, with about 65% of households earning less than $65,000. According to other government data only 1.5% of all Americans earn more than $250,000. Even members of congress who complain about how hard it is to live on a congressional salary fall in the top 5% of all American wage earners.
How is the real middle class doing in America? According to government reports the values of family homes in the United States has dropped by over six trillion dollars since its peak. The DOA and DOE have stated that the average American household spends almost 25% of its income just on food and gas with the possibility of spending an additional $1,000 on gas alone in 2011. Food prices are going up while the container sizes get smaller. The real unemployment rate is about 15% not 8.8% Taking the people who were force to apply for a reduced social security because they couldn't find a job, the people who have given up, the high school and college graduates living at home unable to find a job and not counted in the unemployment rates, the people with master degrees working at Starbucks. It is easy to see why the Federal Reserve has stated the median household net worth has taken a major hit.
We are told that the economy is on the right track, after all we created 220,000 new jobs last month and that new unemployment claims dropped to 380,000 last week. So in a month's time Americans filed 1,500,000 new unemployment claims and between 125,000 to 150,000 new people entered the job markets. So that means 1.6 million Americans either loss their jobs or want to find a jobs and we created 220,000 new jobs and that is good? The majority of the new jobs created since the start of the recover have been created outside of the United States. How is that good?
The stock market has almost recovered all its losses since it crashed, but what does that mean to the middle class Americans, the people who had to draw down their 401's, 529's and IRA's just to pay their mortgages, their bills, just to survive. It doesn't matter if the stock market has recovered because just as with a high stakes poker game they have loss all their chips and they now have to watch from the side lines as others play with chips containing their hopes and dreams.
Middle class America is fed up with the mass-media; they are fed up with self-interest and party loyalist politicians from all parties. The America Middle Class is scared; they are losing more and more faith in their leaders to see the dangers. As they watch their financial situations deteriorate Americans are losing hope, they believe that they have been lied too. They know that there are people in the country who have felt little to no effects from the so-called "Great Recession". While they are worrying about their family's health care, how there are going to replace their 8 years old car, worrying if they will have a job next month, knowing that if they are lucky they may have a 30-45 day safety net. Knowing just how lucky they are to have a job, a job when the boss is requiring them to work longer hours while increasing their productivity by 4-5-6% in order to increase profits by not hiring additional people resulting in a increase of workers weekly wages.
Until our political leadership stop acting out of self-interest, stop going through the motions, stop fighting over 35 or even 60 billion dollars out of a 1,500,000,000,000 or about 4% of just this year's deficit middle class American will lose all hope, and the most dangerous people are the people who believe that they have no hope, that they don't have a future, that they have nothing to lose.
Any effective leader clearly understands that you never ever give people false hope. I believe that there are far too many Americans who have come to believe that they have been and still are being fed false hope by both parties.
The American Character has been built on the firm belief that the future always held out the hope that no matter how bad things may appear now there would always be a better day. The self-interest, self-serving party system with its political leadership have been doing their best for the pass twenty years to break the spirit of the American Character.
As Admiral Yamamoto stated after attacking Pearl Harbor "I believe we have awoken a sleeping giant." The American Middle Class has be beaten up pretty badly over the last 30 years and in the words of Senate Robert Kennedy spoken on the senate floor on May 9, 1966 "A revolution is coming-a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough-but a revolution is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability."
I will put my money on middle class America. The sleeping giant that Ross Perot was able to tap in, in 1992 is awaking and it is very angry.
|
