What's Happening To The Middle Class

The ideal of middle class has become a major talking part for politician from both sides of the isle. AARP describes how the middle class had declined by various factors, which includes the decline in marriage rates and the completion of higher education degrees to increase household incomes.

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.

The gap between the upper class and the lower class is growing; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Instead of helping the lower class, the upper class is spending their money on fancy houses and material objects. For example, in the outskirts of cities, the rich business owners are building large mansions to live in. On the other hand, the lower class live in tiny tenements in the heart of the city. Many are unemployed and starving. In addition, between 1865 and 1900 only a small percent of Americans grew wealthy showing that wealth is only being passed through families not gained. However this growing gap between rich and poor has allowed the growth of the middle class. This middle class made up of doctors, lawyers and other will help the will hopefully help lessen the gap between

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.

The Jacksonian Period, or the era of the “common man,” greatly satisfied its name. Even though President Jackson was not a common man himself, he was a great supporter of the middle class. He dramatically altered the country’s banking system, by replacing wealthy elites with middle class white men. Even after his presidency, a new political party, the Whigs, continued to enact his ideas and political reforms to benefit the middle class.

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

Many middle class families realized that many workers had absolutely nothing and were sick from lack of food, warmth, and shelter. Louis Alcott’s “Little Women”, represented a middle class family giving away their Christmas breakfast because of neighbors that were starving and freezing. This recognizes the comfort that was provided in being a middle class, but did not have the luxuries of the wealthy. The middle class could purchase enough food for one meal but kept a tight budget(source 2). The middle class had exemplary jobs and were payed a comfortable sum of money, nevertheless, the poorest unskilled laborers had to work in repugnant

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.

Today increasingly American are trying to get better jobs to have and give a better quality for them and their families. That is why poor people go to college or schools to get skills that qualify them to do so to improve their conditions of life. And then changing status socio-economic from poor to middle class. As indicated by the meanings of US social classes announced in 2014 the working-class wage run from 30,000 to 350,000 yearly being separated in lower, middle, and upper working class individually that relate to a 78.5 of the populace. Despite what many would state that the white-collar class is vanishing.It is somewhat unsure if yes or no and that could be wrangled as demonstrated by everybody: The American, working class, is winning because there are components that show the opposite is guessing(Harsanyi)such as more income, better quality of life and gaining economy.

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)

“Approximately 13 percent of the American population- that is, nearly, of every eight people in this country- live below the official poverty line,” (Mantsios 179). I define being wealthy as having an immense amount of money, enough to not be stressed about paying bills.

Chatham, was a swampy area unfit for human habitation in the 1860s, the early stages of Chicago as a city. Soon it followed the industrial trend of the rest of Chicago, providing settlement for those who worked in lakeside steel mills at the turn of the century. In the 1920s there was a marked increase in property values there was an influx of European immigrants. The population grew to over 36,000 and the neighborhood became established it as the middle class neighborhood it is recognized as today. Resident make-up changed throughout the years, the transition however from white to black was rapid, like it was in many other parts of the city. From an almost non-existent black population in 1950, the neighborhood was majority black by 1960 and by 1990, 99% of Chatham’s residents were black. The maintenance of a middle-class community has remained an important priority in Chatham throughout the years. In the 1990s Chatham showed signs of another community

Of this group, about 1/3rd belongs to the upper-middle class. The annual income of person belonging to this group is $70-$75,000. The jobs that the typical upper-middle class person holds would have a prestige rating of 65 or higher. 2/3rd?s of the middle-class population is the lower-middle class. White-collared individuals make up the majority of this class, earning anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a year. Lower-middle class Americans have a set standard of priorities. They take pride in the fact that they are financially stable, and promote hard work, and press on education. Without education, the members feel that they would not be where they are economically, and preach the importance to their children so that they, too, can live a lifestyle very similar to that of theirs (Norton).

In fact, the top 20% of American households own 84% of the wealth, while bottom 40% only make up 0.3% of the wealth (Henneberg, 114). A report for Pew Research Center Pew, “defines middle income as family of four with a household income between $44,000 and $132,000” (Tami Luhby). Around 46% of American households fall into middle income. The upper-income Americans are classified as people who make over $132,000 and have a family of four (Luhby). In addition, the median household net worth of middle-income Americans is around $96,500 between 2010 and 2013 (Luhby).