Middle Class In America

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).

There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries

Majority thinks that America is the land of opportunity, where the lower class has the ability to succeed and prosper; statistically the truth is less expectant. According to facts presently, the smallest percentage of Americans earns over $1,000,000. The next smallest percentage of Americans earn over $125,000. Meanwhile, the median income that Americans earn is $41,000. Any American can succeed with the right mind set. Facts also show that more Americans considered to be wealthy have earned it rather than inherited it. I come from a family that is considered to be working class. My parents didn’t own their first home until I was 15, and I am the youngest of four children. Hard work does pay off, and I have seen it.

Since the middle class makes up a significant amount of the United States population, this group would reflect the majority of the behaviors and views of the United States population. However, there are some inaccuracies when attempts are made to use the middle class the sole source of the opinions of the country’s population. Focusing on only the middle class will leave out the opinions of the lower class, as well as the upper class. Both groups have extremely different outlooks on the creation and stability of American culture. Having these differences come into play in attempting to define deviance. Trying to define deviance is rooted in issues with education, money, religion, and other social constructs. In these areas, the ones that cement

The United States was once known to offer honest jobs, with an honest pay for a hard day of work. The middle class of the united states was once a thriving class that lived comfortably off of that standard. Today the middle class is marginally smaller and the jobs don’t promise the same benefits they once did. There are many possibilities that may have caused the demise of the middle class, but very little is being done to resolve the issue. The importance of having a large working middle class is key to having an overall thriving economy and great living conditions for all in the United States. The middle class is shrinking and this can be resolved by worker’s unions, raising the tax on the upper class, and raising the minimum wage.

I am in the middle-class of American society; however, I grew up in the lower- class reared by a single teenaged mother, who barely graduated high school. Growing up we always lived with some family member that was barely making it themselves. Everyone we lived with had some government issued income or a low paying job. Over the years my mother worked various minimum waged jobs. We also, used various government programs and organizations such as food stamps, clothes and food banks and free lunch programs when she didn’t have enough income to meet our needs.

The US economy is slowly expanding, with unemployment and GDP growth slowly returning to its pre-recession levels. However, improvements in the economy has not been evenly felt across social classes. The middle class – second, third, and fourth quintile – are struggling to recover from the recession. Therefore, because JA Homes specializes in constructing houses for the middle class, I recommend the firm to contract in the next three years.

In the United States alone, the middle class has taken up most of the population since the 1900’s. In today’s society the middle class is no longer the majority. According to a new Pew Research Center report, “Middle class Americans now compromise less than half, 49.9 % of the nations population down from 61% in 1971”(Luhby, 2015). According to economic experts, a majority middle class is what keeps a nation strong. But lately keeping a healthy middle class in the United States has become difficult because of the soaring prices and the dropping of wages(Luhby, 2015).Some Americans are moving into the upper class, but most are moving into the lower class due to the above reasons.

Every household family around the world is apart of a social class that ultimately determines who they are. There is an upper-class, middle-class, and a lower-class. Upper-class and middle-class people usually consist of white people who have a lot of money and have more opportunities than any other social class. While the lower-class people don 't have the same resources and opportunities like the people above them. The lower-class tends to have a more difficult time getting by in life. The tiers of these social classes determine who these people associate themselves with throughout their daily lives. The word classicism refers to people who share the same beliefs about economics, culture, politics, and have the

According to Adams, M., Readings for diversity and social justice (Third ed.) pg 156, “the wealthiest 1 percent of the American population holds 34 percent of the total national wealth. Approximately 183,000 Americans, or ¾ of 1 percent of the adult population, earn more than $1 million dollars annually. The middle class in the United States holds a very small share of the nation’s wealth. Nearly 37 million Americans lived in unrelenting poverty”.

In this passage, the writer talks about how the similarities between the sitcom “The Middle” and “Speechless.” The writer begins talking about how the two are both middle class families. The two families are looked at as “proud outsiders” which is meant in a good way. The families in the two shows do not look at their economic struggles as a down side. Neither family is superior to the other. The two shows reflect on modern day economy. The families in both shows are much like most of it’s viewers, who are lower middle class and have a overscheduled life. The author goes on to say about the viewers “if they had another $20,000 and one week of vacation, their life could be put back together.”

The definition of “middle class” has been debated recently in Hong Kong. One simplistic definition would be to take the median or average income and those who received the middle” level of income are the “middle class”. Such a definition is easy to understand in mathematical terms, but is naive and has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, how close the income level to the “middle” would be included as the “middle class”? Would 10% below and above the average or “middle” income be regarded? The problem is to draw the dividing line. Secondly, people’s income changes over time, or drops in an economic downturn. How do the

My family has for the most part straddled the line between working and middle class. While most of my family members moved up in their careers as time went by, tragedies have struck (such as my grandfather’s early demise) that sent them tumbling down and the occasional triumph or stroke of luck has improved their financial situation and allowed them to bounce back. Of course money isn’t the only thing that has helped or hindered my family; their skin color has allowed them to maintain a place of privilege in society. I have only ever experienced the good life that my parents have been able to afford for themselves, but from working retail for over a decade I have been able to see how other people live and how hard it can be to make ends meet when that job is not just something you do while you’re in college.

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.