For a generation, Democrats and others on the left have lamented the loss of the middle class. Some Republicans have also addressed that concern. They call it “the shrinking middle class.” The most offered up solution is government intervention – the political redistribution of wealth.
The inference is that millions of Americans are falling into the lower economic class. This belief drives much of the left-wing agenda of more government assistance and opposition to tax reductions to stimulate the economy.
Their theory declares that it is necessary to take money away from wage earners (taxpayers) and provide it to folks in the lowest income brackets. That SOUNDS good – rather charitable, in fact. But the entire concept is predicated on political advantage for the politicians rather than economic benefit for … for … for anyone.
Let’s first take a look at the contention that every year more and more people are falling out of the middle class and into the ranks of the poverty class. According to the most authoritative source, the U.S. Census, that is simply not true. In fact, it is the poverty population that is actually shrinking.
The poverty rate in 2019 was 10.5 percent. That means that 90 percent of all Americans live above the poverty level. That makes the American people the wealthiest in the world in all comparative economic categories.
Purchasing power is a more accurate indicator of wealth – and poverty. If you were to categorize the entire world population in terms of buying power, the United States would virtually have no measurable poverty at all. The poorest of Americans live far better – and have greater purchasing power – than half the world.
The one group that is shrinking according to government statistics is the poverty class. That 2019 figure of 10.5 percent is down from 11.8 in 2018. That is the fifth consecutive year that the percentage of those living in economic poverty has declined – a 4.3 percent drop, in fact. The poverty rate in 2014 was 14.8. The most significant rise out of poverty has been the poorest of the poor within the minority populations.
If the poverty class is shrinking AND the middle class is shrinking, there is only one conclusion. A lot of one-time middle-class folks have been entering the upper class. That is not surprising. Over the years there have been innumerable reports and feature articles about the millionaires next door – people who have amassed significant wealth while working at what might be called ordinary jobs. There are store clerks, carpenters, warehouse workers who have retired with significant accumulated wealth, including million-dollar pension funds.
A person’s economic class is not just dependent on what they earned, but what they amassed – their purchasing power. Go into any middle-class neighborhood and you will find people with multiple vehicles, boats and summer homes. They dine out frequently. They take long vacations in exotic places – often out of the country. I grew up in what was then called a lower middle class family. My parents could not afford any of those luxuries.
Some studies suggest that family incomes are growing at a slow rate. That may be true. But that may be because as the incomes go up, the RATE of growth naturally descends. If you have a growth rate of 10 percent on an income of $20,000, you get an extra $2,000. If your income is $100,000 a lower rate of growth – let’s say five percent – will get you an increase five times greater, or $10,000.
I understand that there is a hand full of billionaires who are racking up big gains on big incomes, but they are gaining their wealth through ownership – not wages. The Zuckerbergs, Musks, Gates, Buffets and Bezos are merely the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Fords of today. Their wealth is fabulous, but in many ways unique – and arguably meaningless — in calculating economic classes. There are just too few of them. The economy is much bigger than them – regardless of Senator Bernie Sanders obsession with class warfare.
By all historic and contemporary measure, we Americans are a VERY rich people – collectively, the richest on earth. Capitalism and free markets are what made us such. We will continue to be the richest people on earth if we do not succumb to the utopian and socialist snake oil that somehow government redistribution of wealth is a better plan – when it never has been.
So, there ‘tis.
Don’t be so silly. The middle class has all of their money taken away through taxes, need for payoffs, outrageous real estate costs BY the Democrats that these SAME middle class people keep re-electing. The answer to their problem is simple – DON’T VOTE for these criminals. Unfortunately they DO vote for them over and over again.
The trump great tax cuts went 83 0/0 to the rich and large corporations and most everything he has done favors himself and millionaires and billionaires and large corporations. Dont keep using the old trump bull crap that it’s all the dems fault
While I don’t disagree with much of this there is a large part of story being left out.
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The massive amount debt be accumulated by that same middle class in pursuit of those items mentioned and one monstrous one unmentioned such is education. A middl to college class family can’t afford to send their kids to college as they did when I attended. Rents and Housing prices? Fugettabout it for median income earners. Not to mention dual income necessity and throw in child care on top of that.
I grew up in a west Tennessee REPUBLICAN COUNTY AND FAMILY. MY PARENTS HAD 10 CHILDREN AND FOR MANY YEARS MY DAD WAS A SHARECROPPER, THEN A RENTER ( STILL DID NOT OWN A FARM BUT HE DID OWN ALL THE TOOLS AND ANIMALS HE NEEDED TO BECOME A STEP ABOVE SHARECROPPING. None of us kids finished high school but I got a GED when I was 19 yrs old and working 58 hours per week for $40.00 and meals as a short order cook. That was an increase over $2.00 per day for chopping cotton when our crops were “laid by”. I was drafted at 20 yrs old and spent 2 years in the army (18 months on the communist borders in Germany). I started in retail when I was discharged in a department store and within three months the owner/president) promoted me to CHILDREN’S WEAR BUYER WITH REGULAR BUYING TRIPS TO NYC. I then began managing retail chain stores and also owned our own variety store for five years. My wife was a stay at home mom until our youngest (of 3 children) was 12 yrs old. Today I am 85 years old with very well to do children and grandchildren, ( teachers, dentists and other professions). Our total wealth is well over $300.000, our quarter home, car and furniture are all paid for and we live a very comfortable life. AMERICA IS STILL THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH! PLEASE PRAY THAT WE SURVIVE THE NEXT FOUR YEARS UNDER THESE DEMO/COMMIES NOW WILL BE IN CHARGE OF OUR GOVERNMENT. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND THE CONSERVATIVE LEADERS WE STILL HAVE IN MANY PLACES!
America will be many times better off in the next 4years with Biden than the last 4 years with trump And 200,000 people mite still be alive if Biden was the president
Real joke!what real joke!
When DNC/Communist operators shut down small businesses, over a ‘virus’ with a 98% survival rate, and leave big corporations like Walmart OPEN, the middle class doesn’t just shrink..IT DIES! These “operators: have violated their oaths of office to UPHOLD the Constitution, not trample it under a bogus virus plan to destroy our country! CHINA JOE is not our President, the media DOES NOT choose our President! #THISISTREASON
So you think 260,000 people dead isn’t worth closing down businesses for a few weeks. Typical selfish trump response. Wait until you lose a family member or a friend and you will change your selfish mind
In spite of all that is happening right now , we need to remember that GOD is in control. This country and also the world is heading down our present path because we continue to walk away from GOD and support things that HE finds abhorrent. As HE has given us free will, HE will let us continue down this path. Things will not change until we open our eyes, repent for what we are doing, and turn back to HIM. Sadly, many of us will continue to live in the squalor and do nothing but complain about it. There are a few of us that are willing to speak the truth and seek change but there need to be many more.
A nation can survive its fools,and even their ambitions.But it can’t survive treason from within.A murderer is less to be feared. `Cicero’
Please don’t argue about total fault between one party or the other. We are all citizens of this great country and there are people who do wrong and want to do right on both sides. I’m not that politically savvy. Just a 1 plus one equals 2 kind of guy. Meaning, I use a lot of common sense. The only thing I’m certain of is when the tax laws changed a few years ago, as far as our yearly deductions, I filed the same deductions with just a little more income each year. Although I got a little bit more take home pay, what I had to pay back greatly surpassed the extra I was getting. I always received something back, and now I’m still owing thousands each year a claiming zero dependents all year. I’m hearing the same story with most middle class citizens. I know of a person who has a tax business and they told me since the law changed it has affected the middle class the worst.
Please don’t argue between who is completely at fault on one side or the other who are supposed to represent us in this great country. There are persons on both sides who do wrong and those who really try to do the right thing. All I have perceived is something is seriously out of whack and the middle class is suffering for it. A few years ago the tax laws changed as far as filing deductions. We brought home a little more after payroll tax but now I’m owing thousands each year filing the same way I always have in addition to claiming zero exemptions all year. I’ve always gotten something in return. The tax persons that I know who have tax businesses are saying the same thing. Since the laws have changed, it has affected the middle class the worst.
I’ve tried to reply twice without being biased. It’s crystal clear now that this site is only one sided without taking both views into consideration. With this type of mindset we will continue to be divided and hopefully not conquered.
The writer did not blame the Democrats. He showed that they are claiming there is a problem that does not really exist just to gain power.
Also, 5% of $100,000 is $5,000, not $10,000, but the idea is still correct.
You might want to talk to Gov. Cuomo (Democrat) about the 30000+ deaths in New York. Those death numbers are skewed to begin with, every death was blamed on Covid.At least in Milwaukee the coroner was realistic, he listed everything that was wrong with that person on how they died. You just allow your Trump hatred get the better of you. I actually feel sorry for you.