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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:50 am Post subject: U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years |
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According to the census figures, the median annual income for a male full-time, year-round worker in 2010 � $47,715 � was virtually unchanged from its level in 1973, when the level was $49,065, in 2010 dollars, said Sheldon H. Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.
�That�s not about the poor and unemployed, that�s full time, year round,� Professor Danziger said. Particularly hard hit, he said, have been those who do not have college degrees. �The median, full-time male worker has made no progress on average.� |
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 10:44 am Post subject: |
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The decline and fall of the American middle class
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But missing from the debate � and, in fact, much current discussion of America's politics � is the single biggest issue facing the country: the destruction of the American middle class. For stories on how America is bifurcating into haves and have-nots, with precious little in between, you have to dive behind the headlines of the latest Washington political bun-fight and find the devil in the details.
Take a story that appeared in the Wall Street Journal Monday. The tale is nominally one about marketing strategy and it looks at how giant firm Procter & Gamble sells its household goods to its customers. But the picture that emerges is terrifying. P&G, it transpires, is cutting back on marketing to the disappearing middle classes, instead selling more and more to either high-income or low-income customers and abandoning the middle. Other big firms, like Heinz, are following suit. The piece reveals there is even a word for this strategy, helpfully coined by Citibank: the Consumer Hourglass Theory � because it denotes a society that bulges at the top and bottom and is squeezed in the middle.
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The black-and-white facts of the case should stun Americans on both sides of the political divide. At the start of this week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders published a report on poverty called "Is Poverty a Death Sentence?" It showed that in 313 counties in America, life expectancy for women has actually declined over the last 20 years. It showed six million more people have fallen into poverty since 2004.
Indeed, this week the US Census Bureau has released a survey showing that one in six Americans now live in poverty: the highest number ever reported by the organisation. It also showed that real median household incomes dropped 2.3% in 2010 from the year before, reflecting the decline of the middle class. At the same time, the richest 20% of the US population now controls 84% of the wealth.In fact, so staggeringly unbalanced has America become that the richest 400 American families have the same net worth as the bottom 50% of the nation. |
Terrifying. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:39 pm Post subject: Re: U.S. Poverty Rate, 1 in 6, at Highest Level in Years |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
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According to the census figures, the median annual income for a male full-time, year-round worker in 2010 � $47,715 � was virtually unchanged from its level in 1973, when the level was $49,065, in 2010 dollars, said Sheldon H. Danziger, professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.
�That�s not about the poor and unemployed, that�s full time, year round,� Professor Danziger said. Particularly hard hit, he said, have been those who do not have college degrees. �The median, full-time male worker has made no progress on average.� |
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html |
You have to account for purchasing power: appliances are far cheaper, and of course computers have come a long, long way since then, but unfortunately education and health care have become far more expensive.
But the trend is certainly disturbing. It doesn't look as if the middle-class has made any progress, and is in fact falling behind somewhat in recent years. |
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Louis VI
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Location: In my Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| the richest 400 American families have the same net worth as the bottom 50% of the nation. |
And yet the country gives tax cuts for the wealthy and debates cutting basic social security and medical care to the poor.
Staggering. |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:10 am Post subject: |
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| Some of the posts form some on this site would have us believe their poverty are their own doing. No one should be out of a job. They're just lazy. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 4:01 am Post subject: |
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The American middle class of the old days was not just an accident. Nor was it the natural outcome of Gilded Age economic policy.
It was the result of deliberate government policies designed to spread the wealth and access to the good life. We cannot return to exactly the same policies as before because the economy has changed drastically since then. We need an up-dated version of those policies that meet the needs of today.
Our biggest and best opportunity was in Jan. '09. We should have had a 'War on Wall Street' that destroyed this 'government is the problem' crap we've had to live with.
There is talk of a 'grand bargain' where everyone gets along. That is hooey. The 'grand bargains' of history have not been negotiated. They have been imposed by new governing coalitions who fought and won the fights for progressive legislation. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| sirius black wrote: |
| Some of the posts form some on this site would have us believe their poverty are their own doing. |
Some people aren't very bright. While this limits their career options and increases the odds of them being unemployed, there are still jobs they can do.
Ambition is another big factor in gaining employment.
If you personally are worried about not being able to get a job, seek more education. It will make your life better.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Figure01-earnings_by_degree.gif |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:37 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The American middle class of the old days was not just an accident. Nor was it the natural outcome of Gilded Age economic policy.
It was the result of deliberate government policies designed to spread the wealth and access to the good life. We cannot return to exactly the same policies as before because the economy has changed drastically since then. We need an up-dated version of those policies that meet the needs of today. |
Absolute drivel. The middle class is a result of the incredible, unprecedented prosperity and wealth brought about by free market capitalism and the industrial revolution. The middle class was largely destroyed by government policy during the Great Depression (exacerbated and lengthened for a decade by the ruinous New Deal imposed on the nation by FDR, aka Stalin in the White House), and is yet again under siege by the government and their Wall Street/special interest cronies, looting and raping the economy for all its worth.
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| Our biggest and best opportunity was in Jan. '09. We should have had a 'War on Wall Street' that destroyed this 'government is the problem' crap we've had to live with. |
Ahaha, Obama's biggest fan is talking about a War on Wall Street?? Don't make me laugh. Obama signed over trillions to the zombie banks and has done literally everything in his power to benefit them at our expense. Literally, everything.
If you want to put an end to bankster privileges and to Wall Street pillaging, you need to get rid of the Federal Reserve (private banking cartel). Ron Paul is the only candidate even proposing to do so.
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| There is talk of a 'grand bargain' where everyone gets along. That is hooey. The 'grand bargains' of history have not been negotiated. They have been imposed by new governing coalitions who fought and won the fights for progressive legislation. |
Progressive legislation like forced sterilization (literally inflicted upon Americans by progressives early in the last century), wars around the war, inflation and ruinous levels of taxation, systemic unemployment, and a political system run by a bunch of smooth-talking, self-righteous, hypocritical limousine liberal scum, being cheered on fake Leftist hacks like Ya-ta.
Yes, just trust in all that Ya-ta has to say. Vote for Obama (hell, if you don't you're a racist). He hasn't let us down yet  |
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sirius black
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| sirius black wrote: |
| Some of the posts form some on this site would have us believe their poverty are their own doing. |
Some people aren't very bright. While this limits their career options and increases the odds of them being unemployed, there are still jobs they can do.
Ambition is another big factor in gaining employment.
If you personally are worried about not being able to get a job, seek more education. It will make your life better.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Figure01-earnings_by_degree.gif |
With regards to the millions that do have a college degree and are out of work, are they simply not trying hard enough and/or lazy?
Its always best to have a degree than not have one. If everyone or the percentage that has a degree were to get well over 60% or 70% (I think its about 22% now, not sure) I wonder if unemployment would stay low no matter the economy? |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| sirius black wrote: |
| With regards to the millions that do have a college degree and are out of work, are they simply not trying hard enough and/or lazy? |
Except there aren't millions. The total is less than two million, so you are wrong about that figure.
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There are now almost two million Americans over the age of 25 who are unemployed and have a college degree. That sounds like a big number, until you deflate by the 45 million Americans in that age and education group.
The overall unemployment rate for the more educated is only 4.3 percent. Individuals with a high school degree, but no college, have a 10 percent unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted). The unemployment rate for high school dropouts is 15.5 percent. |
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Zackback
Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: Kyungbuk
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| How can one seek more education if they don't have money to do so? |
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stilicho25
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Join the military and get the GI bill. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Or subsidized government loans. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| visitorq wrote: |
| Yes, just trust in all that Ya-ta has to say. |
Ya-Ta isn't a complete shill for Obama.
| Ya-Ta Boy wrote: |
| Our biggest and best opportunity was in Jan. '09. We should have had a 'War on Wall Street' that destroyed this 'government is the problem' crap we've had to live with. |
You're right, Ya-Ta. TARP was a pact with the devil. |
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Zackback
Joined: 05 Nov 2010
Location: Kyungbuk
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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No money?
Join the military and die fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan? Two disasterously run wars. |
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