Forum Post: Five hidden problems killing America's middle class
Posted 11 years ago on July 14, 2012, 9:32 p.m. EST by ponchovilla
(16)
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According to the conventional account, the Great American Middle Class has been eroded by rising energy costs, globalization, and the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar in the four decades since 1973. While these trends have certainly undermined middle-class wealth and income, there are five other less politically acceptable dynamics at work:
1) The divergence of State/private vested interests and the interests of the middle class
2) The emergence of financialization as the key driver of profits and political power
3) The neofeudal “colonization” of the “home market” by ascendant financial Elites
4) The increasing burden of indirect “taxes” as productive enterprises and people involuntarily subsidize unproductive, parasitic, corrupt, but politically dominant vested interests
5) The emergence of crony capitalism as the lowest-risk, highest-profit business model in the U.S. economy
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/79194/middle-class-destroying-future
You forgot to add the growth of illegitimacy. Bad choices fuel poverty and inequality. Black illegitmacy is commonplace at over 70%. For hispanics it's around 50%. for whites it's headed higher too.
Even the leftists at the NYT show some capacity to get it with an article today.
You might add that real wages adjusted for inflation have remained relatively flat for the last 40 years. Even for well educated people. The paycheck is bigger, but it does not buy more. The great gains in productivity have gone mainly to the wealthy. One key event happened that may be at the root of this inequity in wealth. Union membership started a great decline at this time and continues to fall today.
What inflation? According to Uncle Sham and their "core inflation" numbers, inflation isn't a problem.
One thing is for sure: if the federal gubment wasn't printing dollars and spending like crazy, paycheck size wouldn't be a problem because prices wouldn't be going up and up and up.