Summary Of The Vanishing Middle Class

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 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

Publisher, Richard V. Reeves, in his online article, "The Dangerous Separation of the American Upper Middle Class," shares how income, education, and political power have caused a split in the upper middle class. Reeves's purpose is to convey the idea that the upper middle class has shifted from being a sociological curiosity to an economic and political problem. Reeves outlines how the upper middle class that was once considered an accessible hope or American dream, is now a blockade and an obstacle for others. He adopts a rational and analytical tone to appeal to the reader's sense of reason. Reeves cites convincing facts and statistics as well as successfully uses emotional appeals. However, toward the end of the article his attempts to appeal to reader's emotions, weakens the credibility and ultimately his argument.

It is a fact that in the US, 50 percent of the wealth is controlled by 1% of the population. But is it really such an unfortunate reality that we would need a system other capitalism to stem the tide of upward movement of wealth distribution. In my view, what is wrong is not the 1 percent's hold on 50 percent of wealth but the resulting decline in middle class that is now a major problem for the US.

Publisher, Richard V. Reeves, in his online article, "The Dangerous Separation of the American Upper Middle Class," shares how income, education, and political power has caused a split in the upper middle class. Reeves 's purpose is to convey the idea that the upper middle class has shifted from being a sociological curiosity to an economic and political problem. Reeves outlines how the upper middle class that was once considered an accessible hope or American dream, is now a blockade and an obstacle for others. He adopts a rational and analytical tone to appeal to the reader 's sense of reason. Reeves cites convincing facts and

In the reading of Middle Class Shrinks Further as More Fall Out Instead of Climbing Up, it is very true about the findings about the middle class. Honestly, 35,000 to 100,000 in today’s money are a huge gap differences. This is where now they started calling some individuals upper middle class. The article also, does a great job talking about Social Security. When was brings in Social Security, can a individual who was making 700 every week at Shoprite (which is middle class), at age 64, then retire a 66, and collect Social Security, and only get a paycheck for 600 every week, did they just get moved to lower class? In the reading The Shrinking American Middle Class says age is a big factor, as well as race, family status, and education.

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)

In Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All” he makes a compelling discussion about the serious crises that the United States faces due the widening economic gap. He looks to raise awareness of the U.S. economic gap between the rich and poor. According to Reich the widening divide in America is real and growing. Income levels at the middle and labor class is stagnant and are at it’s lowest levels compared to upper class incomes since the beginning of WWII and is growing wider each year. Reich suggests that the economy runs more smoothly when the middle class has jobs with fair wages, when unions are strong, and when middle class workers have some extra money to spend if possible when the government uses the tax policy properly and when it raises the minimum wage regularly to control the income gap between labor and management. In other words Reich argues that economically healthy middle and labor class equality is the foundation of a thriving economy and is necessary to maintaining a sound national infrastructure and educational system within

Sylvia elaborates on the decline of the middle class and their reasons behind it. The middle class is falling lower and lower than it once was, due to the interests of bigger and better things. If money keeps getting pumped into the economy in important ways the American Dream will continue to become more and more impossible to even consider achieving. People put so much pressure on others that are in extreme poverty to live normal lives. James Abro emphasizes about the pressure “I think it’s unfair to expect that people who don’t have access to basic needs—like adequate food, housing, and health care—should live normal and productive lives. To then punish them on top of that—by denying work and income supports, for example—is not only immoral, it’s irrational as well” (Abro). He does an exultant job supporting the fact that the pressure wealthy citizens put on the less fortunate. The wealthy expect and assume that the less fortunate have the same opportunities and access to things as they do. Thye then deny them work and their time because they are less fortunate and not on the same social status as they are. Poverty stems from people who do not have the same resources and

As time passes the gap between upper and middle class is increasing at a fast paste. Most of those who classify themselves as middle class are now falling under the category of lower class. In 1978 an average worker worked a minimum of $48,302 and the upper class earned a minimum of $ 393,682. Since then the economic condition has changed.

Next another reason for the decline in the middle class is that there was not set middle class to begin with. In the article "What's Happening to the Middle Class?" by Michael T. Kaufman, the writer explains how the middle class was a broad definition during the eighties. Kaufman says the city of New York classified middle income as $32,000-$53,000 per household. The problem with that though was that because of the decline in the economy, people were significantly less than that.

In our current economic recession, the term “middle class” is almost non-existent in everyday vocabulary. The so-called middle class was a term that was used to describe the people in our society who were not part of the rich and wealthy class, but was also higher up in the socioeconomic ladder above the poverty line. Now the term isn’t used as much as other terms like, “hard working taxpayers” or “everyday Americans” (Chozick). Today, it 's not as easy as just working hard, you now need money and experience in order to get anywhere in this society. That also might sound easy, but the problem is that in order to get a job that will help you sustain your life you need work experience, but in order to get work experience you need a job. Most people don’t accept volunteers anymore in order to just gain some experience in a field. Jobs want you to have years of relatable work experience as soon as you finish college.

What is a circular economy, what are some of the key principles, concepts and building blocks and what system shifts might be needed to bring it about at scale?

        You would think that  most middle class americans and minorities live a generally standard life with some minor conflict here and there. But are supported by government programs to keep everyone going. This is not the case, one of the biggest challenges for middle-class families is they've watched their wages grow on a nominal basis. Based on data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nominal wages for average hourly workers jumped better than 700% between 1964 and 2014 to $20.67 an hour.