the middle class isn't dead. it's just sliding toward the bottom.

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/middle-class-hasnt-disappeared-its-just-sliding-toward-bottom-1335187871

It used to be that the average American resided halfway between two extremes:

--- Steven Schwarzman's home was being partially replicated in a ParkAvenue hall for his gala $5 million 60th birthday party. The guest ofhonor's full-length portrait greeted the invitees as they proceeded pastrows of orchids and palm trees to the dining area, where they feasted onlobster, filet mignon, baked Alaska, and the finest of wines. MartinShort provided the laughs, and the music came compliments of MarvinHamlisch, Patti LaBelle, and Rod Stewart.

--- Eloise Pittman's home had been purchased in the 1950s by her mother,who washed dishes to pay off the mortgage. In 1985 the younger Ms.Pittman, a schoolteacher, went to Chase Bank and took out a loan on thehouse. It was a predatory loan with balloon payments, and Ms. Pittman wasforced to borrow more and more money to keep from defaulting. When shedied in November 2011, she was $400,000 in debt. A week after her deathher family received an eviction notice.

There's no 'average' anymore, in the sense of a normal curve with most ofthe people and most of the money in the middle.

Today, 400 individuals have as much wealth as an entire HALF of America.

Yet it's still argued by some conservatives that in real life the twoextremes are split by a substantial group of average Americans in themiddle. The income of the middle quintile, we are told, grew by over 35%percent between 1979 and 2007. But, as Jared Bernstein points out, 35%over 28 years is 1.1% per year, over a period when productivity grew attwice that rate. Census data shows that the inflation-adjusted salary of afull-time male worker in 2010 was almost exactly the same as in 1979.

[zbdent]

1. in matters of the middle class being on life support, this is one of the few times that Repubs

are in favor of "euthanasia" and "pulling the plug" ...

[starroute]

2. And that's "inflation-adjusted" based on cooked measures of inflation

I saw a chart the other day -- don't recall just where -- pointing out that if inflation was still calculated the way it was in the 1960's, we'd see that the average full-time worker is actually making about half of what he was forty years ago. The accompanying article argues that this is why a two-income household today is doing worse than a one-income household back then.

If this is true, than the American people have actually been shafted even worse than they realize. The Tea Party types have been encouraged to believe that they're being impoverished by rising taxes, which isn't the case at all but serves as a convenient distraction.

[bluesbassman]

3. The "Middle Class" will be a footnote studied in history books by wealthy schoolchildren.

While the descendants of the actual middle class toil in the salt mines.

[TBF]

4. Provided those salt mines will be on Mars -

because they're killing this planet. It's no wonder some of them are so into space travel ...

[hifiguy]

5. The middle and working classes have

one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel and are holding on to a kite. The repukes don't think we're dying off fast enough. See the zombie-eyed granny starver Paul Ryan.

[DaveJ]

6. Treating one another like this is the U.S. is cruel, sick, social Darwinism

"Conservatives" in this day and age are simply sadists for supporting this kind of society.