Graduation Speech : Middle Class

Contrary to the upper class, the middle class retains an opportunity for growth and therefore believes in the American Dream. However, their dreams shy away from the common view of the American Dream and instead revolve around their values and wants. Primarily, the middle class is defined as having an income between $46,960 and $140,900, although the economic boundaries that make up the middle class constantly varies (Luhby). Besides income, the middle class also can be identified by occupation, net worth, or education, but every middle class citizen, no matter how they are identified, experience similar circumstances (Elkins). The majority of the middle class yearn to have a nice home and secure job, along with extra money to enjoy their interests and hobbies. In addition, they strive to set aside savings for their children’s transition into the working world or future education. Although the middle class has more opportunities than lower class citizens, they still encounter their own struggles. For many middle class families, hard times come and go while they try to maintain a comfortable living situation. Money for them does not come as easily as it does for the upper class, who typically have enough to constantly feel stable. Nonetheless, the middle class obtains enough to live more

During the past couple of decades, the decline in the middle class has been associated to the political agenda of the Republican Party. By ending governmental subsidies and other programs created to build the middle class, has ultimately ceased the growth. However, realizing the importance of the middle class to our fragile economic platform, the Democratic and Independent political parties are desperately trying to create and revamp the middle class

It can always be nice to imagine that you can go from very poor to very rich but in America, that’s not the case. According to a recent study, 70% of those born in low income families remained in the lower income bracket. Out of the remaining 30%, only 24% reached middle-class or upper- class and 4% rose to become high income earners (Hargreaves). Now, it is very difficult for people born into the lower class to rise up to the middle or upper class. These people that do successfully rise up have to have certain characteristics. 53% were college graduates, 50% were two income families, 35% were white, and 34% did not experience unemployment (Hargreaves). Most people in low- income families cannot afford college and student loans. This makes them less likely to become part of the middle class. Poor people do not have the resources to strive and become part of the other social classes. Overall, it is becoming more and more difficult for low- income families to become part of the middle class.

In Edward McClelland’s essay “RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013,” McClelland discusses to his audience that the middle class is slowly vanishing and soon enough we will only be left with the rich and the poor. Throughout the essay, McClelland uses various examples to demonstrate how the middle class will no longer exist. McClelland talks about how education is vital for pursuing a job at a reasonable pay that a person can live off of. Before, people were able to leave high school and go straight into a job with a pay that could support them. Nowadays, the same jobs that were supporting people before require a lot more education and still aren’t giving enough money that will allow them to live comfortably. Even though there are still jobs people can thrive at that will make more money without a serious education , the middle class is struggling to make it economically, because it is harder to find a job without education and financially it’s harder to make ends meet.

Nowadays, the middle class is shrinking, while majority of people are either moving into the lower or upper classes. This is due to the major economic and policy changes that have occurred throughout the past thirty years. Based on the Basic Economy Security Tables, one in four full-time working-age adults are not earning enough income to meet economic needs for themselves or their families. This is a serious problem in America today, the fact that the median income today is six hundred dollars less than it was in 1989 is proof of this epidemic. It is much harder now, than ever, to work your way into the middle class, much less stay there. The percentage income growth since 1967 for the top 5 percent of earners is 88%, top 20 percent of earners grew 70%, and middle-income households only grew 20%. (Camp) In simpler terms, the upper classes income has increased tremendously, while middle-income households have seen very little growth in their income. Since the middle class is not receiving any income growth, it is declining and moving towards the lower class. It is not nearly as easy as it was thirty years ago to get a decent job and make

Elizabeth Warren’s The Vanishing Middle Class is about what exactly the middle class is and why the decline of this social class isn’t being brought to attention. I believe and agree that she answered this question with flying colors, providing all the factual information to clarify all her claims shown. As Warren states (as well as shows through a graph on another page) how inflated the pay of a single male full-time employer has become decades since the 70’s, compared to those married couples’ who’s have sky rocketed rather than flat-lined. This has

I noticed you sent an announcement out about seeing our grade as of Friday in the handout section, but when I try and click on that section there is no link for it. Also, from what I can recall, on the quizzes, and Rocketmix I am not doing well in your class and would like any and all suggestions you have for me. I'm feeling upset with myself as I've been doing well in all of my classes since attending the CSUDH I'm on track to graduate Summa Cum Laude. I have had many struggles in the past with school and getting my first Associates degree and I believe being a first generation college student did not help matter but now 10 years have past since my first degree and I've learned to be a better college student since then and going into

Although most people in the United States of America do not live in an upper-class household, this term is often correlated with income, wealth, power, and prestige. In fact, “approximately one percent of the U.S. population is considered to fall in this stratum” (2017 p.260). Nevertheless, the middle class are the rulers of the United States of America. Per Conley, the middle class is “a term commonly used to describe those individuals with nonmanual jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line – though this is a highly debated and expansive category, particularly in the United States of America, where broad swathes of the population consider themselves middle class” (2017 p.262). In particular, the middle class is often correlated with white-collar workers, such as accountants, teachers, and attorneys. An abundant number of families in the United States of America are considered to be “poor.” In accordance with Conley, “in 2015, the poverty line for a family of four was $24,250” (2017

Debt in America now has grown to be at the highest it has been compared to the decades before. People now spend tremendous about of money now then they have many years prior. Many people today have borrowed money that they can not seem to pay back, which debt begins to accumulate and may cause distress in many lives. Basically now there is no one preserving their own money, they’re are just spending their hard earned money. Elizabeth Warren, formerly a U.S. senator and also a teacher, addresses the middle class in her essay called “the vanishing middle class”. There are abundant of good ideas that she states in her essay. Elizabeth Warren is very effective in her argument because of three concepts that stand out the most were having high incomes but at a price, savings and debt, how different we use our money now compared with how we have in the past.

Today in America, there is a specific class of people who are slowly dwindling away into nonexistence. These people had a dream, the American Dream, they dreamed of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For some people, this dream was broken down into having a white picket fence with 2.5 kids, a house, and a car. However, today these people are not dreaming they are hoping; hoping to get through another day by making ends meet. These people—which are the core pillar holding up the American Dream—are a part of the middle class Americans. The middle class in America has been on a quick decline in recent years; in order to restore the middle class America will have to reshape our economic structure by lowering the deficit on the middle

While it is true that technological equipment is advancing at a faster rate than we can think or that education is the key to a brighter future, it does not necessarily mean that we need to leave the middle class behind into ever existing. In “Confronting Inequality”, Paul Krugman quotes a Thomas Jefferson line that reads, “The small landowners are the most precious part of a state” which the meaning stands for itself. It is an assertion that the middle class or lower class is one of the most valuable classes of all and without it, America wouldn’t be itself. This dramatic inequality that we live in has turned us into a society with a hopeless and weakened middle class. What Americans don’t seem to realize or sympathize is that the middle class is struggling against the trend of decline. The bulk of the middle class population now believe that the potential of oncoming generations to afford college will never repeat itself and that workers will uncertainly feel as secure in their jobs as they once did in the past

Let’s set aside income for a moment. Use any measure of quality of life—college enrollment, homicide rates, vehicular deaths, infant mortality, life expectancy, workplace injuries, pollution, teen pregnancy, access to health care, just to name a very few—and you will see an improvement for a majority of Americans over the past 40 years.Yet we have political movements feeding the anxieties of millions of people, promising to bring back menial labor factory jobs and unproductive union-scale work to save the middle class.

The middle class is currently under attack due to changes in the sheer size of the middle class and number of manufacturing costs the middle class is shrinking. According to (Marvin 4) in the last two decades the amount of service jobs was around 18-20 million during the same 20 year period it went from 74 to 114 million people in service jobs. This is due to three things according to (Marvin 4) “ (1) Stagnating or declining real wages; (2) disproportionate growth in low-wage jobs; and (3) a decline in jobs that pay middle-class wages.” This amount of people going from high paying jobs to these low-income service jobs is clearly an issue. With so many companies sending the manufacturing overseas this is creating a lower demand for manufacturing jobs in the United States. The middle class is being flushed out sticky

Everything from tax cuts to rising educations costs was not done with the middle class in mind. However, they are the ones who are hit the hardest with it. The middle class is expected to keep up with trends such as obtaining a higher education, taking out mortgages for new houses and seeking out childcare. But, yet due to inflation, incomes are not being raised enough to meet these

High school is supposed to be the place where you have fun and a time in your life you’re supposed to enjoy. Movies often trick you into believing that high school is an amazing time in your life and there is nothing but parties and fun. In Bring it on, they portrayed the fun and exciting part of high school cheer-leading, however they intentionally leave out the tough times high school students’ face in school and in their practices. In other popular movies, such as High School Musical the students have no pressures other than the next basketball game. In reality, this doesn 't happen. The constant pressure is affected by the grade level you are in. In high school, students can be classified based on the pressures that are faced in each grade level into the categories of freshman, sophomores/juniors, and seniors. I am here to help you make your high school experience less stressful.