High Education And The Middle Class

The American middle class is supposed to be living the American dream life. They would be able to afford a home, 1-2 cars, take 1-2 vacations within a year, be able to send their children to college and live comfortable lives. Middle class Americans would shop stores such as Wal-Mart and Kmart and splurge on department

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

In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom 19).

Income inequality has been seen throughout different societies. It has always been separated with the poor on bottom and the rich on top. Most societies in past and present have had little to no movement between the separations of classes. The reality for the poor in most of those societies is that they can almost never get to the level and quality of life of the rich. America compared to other societies in our past and present is a society that strongly believes in the idea of “The American Dream”. The American Dream gives hope to some people below the rich that they can someday be as prosperous as the rich if they work hard enough for it and show that they are capable. This idea implies that it is possible for anyone whether the person is middle or low class. It is not possible for low-income workers in America to move to the upper class because they lack the resources for better jobs, they are racially or ethnically discriminated in the workforce and the upper class takes most of the income in the US.

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

The middle class usually does not fare any better in America. The middle class, like the poor minorities, do not usually move up from their current position. This is a problem for those of color. It is no secret that black or minorities are more likely to suffer in an American economy. “ Just as striking,however, is the fact that black children born into middle-quintile families are also twice as likely to be downwardly mobile as middle income whites ” (Reeves). Blacks are at a disadvantage in this country when it comes to upward mobility. Whites on average are doing a lot better than other races with an “average of 57,009”(Perlberg). Blacks are even behind in income. “Large racial and gender gaps in the U.S. remain, even as they have narrowed in some cases over the years. Among full- and part-time workers in the U.S., blacks in 2015 earned just 75% as much as whites in median hourly earnings and women earned 83% as much as men”(Patten). The gap between whites and minorities in America keep the dream farther and farther away. Since the middle class can 't grow it means that in the end the American is a stretch.

The article I found describes the issue that the middle class in America is no longer the world’s richest, and compares this issue with other advanced countries. It states that in recent years, middle class families in America were receiving meager raised income than counterparts were around the world, and most of American families were receiving unequally income. Those income data were analyzed by LIS, a group that maintains the Luxembourg Income Study Databases, and by The Upshot, a New York Times website covering policy and politics, and also reviewed by outside-academic economists. The United States used to be a leader of after-tax middle-class income country among all the developed states, but now the other countries,

In America the middle class is nothing short of substantial, and this was paralleled when the class was first born in feudal Europe, due to the Crusades, along with many other impacts. The Crusades’ most impactful repercussions were the expansion of trade and the rise of the new middle class. The former revolves around how the growth of trade lead to the growth of other aspects in medieval times. For example, the Crusades causing more trade led to more complex banking styles, like bills of exchange. Not only this but they also attracted more people into Europe, consequently expanding cities and towns. This is important because the bills of exchange -- although not tremendously influential then -- eventually lead to debit cards today, and the

On top of it all the rich seem to get richer, spending their money on bigger houses, better cars, always trying to out do each other while the middle class continues to struggle. Paul Krugman describes this very well by saying,

Pew Research Center’s new analysis shows that the American middle class lost ground in the vast majority of metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2014, and the shares of adults in the lower- and upper-income ranks rose in most areas. There was more movement into the upper-income tier in about half the areas, while in the other half there was more movement downward (May 11, 2016)

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

Over the past few decades, the “American Dream” vision has been quickly vanishing as a result of the increasing troubles and weakening of the middle class. It has lost the view of being the most successful and wealthy middle class in the world, while the middle classes in other countries are excelling in earning higher middle and lower class incomes. The issue of the declining wealth of the middle class explains a huge problem in the United States’ future prosperity and well being for the citizens and the country. There are many issues that affect the success of the middle and lower classes, such as structural differences in the economy, culture, and government. The gap between the middle and high classes is increasing specifically. The United States has the image of giving people life and prosperity, but inequality is increasing significantly due to issues in education, decrease in taxation among the upper class, and decrease of middle class power in the democracy, while other ideas and mechanisms can be take from other nations.

Why should I believe that there would be an emerging global middle class especially here in the United States? As of now the middle class is hurting every day, the housing market and income inequalities has become a noticeable contributing factor on the sluggish push for the middle class to feel the economic benefits. A recent report in the past as stated that the global middle class will perhaps emerge for the first time in history by the year 2030. However, the global middle class will be doubled by 2030 from 2 billion to about 4.9 billion. Furthermore, it mentions that the European and American middle classes will get a big blow by downsizing from 50 to 22 percent that’s a whopping 28 percent reduction in the already crippling middle-class.

The middle class in America has been shrinking particularly over the last decade to the current time. This is a trend that was last experienced in the 1930s during the great depression due to the altered economic trends in the American system. The shrinking of the middle class therefore led to the expansion of the poor and the rich gap due to the drop in the income within the middle class. Aaron Smith (2012) indicates that the wealth of the middle-income households was in their homes, hence the housing bust terribly affected their 'nest eggs'. He further indicates that the mean net worth of the middle class (which includes assets, such as a home or retirement account, minus debt) fell by a significant 28% as compared to the wealthy class that actually edged higher by 1%. This was due to the fact that the upper class was able to cushion itself from the effects of the housing bust due to he greater diversification of their wealth and the fact that they tied much of their wealth on bonds, stocks and several other investments.