This post really pertains to a lot of you guys, so I think it's a good one.
I'm sure that all of you guys have heard your friends or parents complaining that the middle class gets screwed. The poor gets aid, the rich get the tax cuts, which leaves the middle class paying for everything.
However, I was really surprised to find that there are two sides to this story.
On one hand, there is the side that the middle class gets squeezed and pressured. The middle class, in order to stay middle class, is working 20% longer than the middle class of 30 years ago, and the minimum wage has not kept up close with inflation. There are many stories of middle class families not being able to afford to buy houses, which has become the American dream.
Yet that is the second, flip side of the story - the American dream. Both Arthus B. Laffer and Bob McTeer, two famous economics, argue that the middle class is actually better off than it ever has been - it's just that the middle class wants more. 30 years ago, it is true that people worked less, and only 1 parent brought in the income. However, back then, the middle class just wanted a microwave, maybe an airconditioner, and maybe a color tv if they were splurging. Now, the middle class seems to have expectations of many tv's, many vcr's and computers and air conditioners, and going to college is a must.
Instead, the economists believe that the middle class, or you and your parents, have been brainwashed in believing they are worse off because the upper class is gaining expenentially. However, the economists believe that this jealousy doesn't transfer into the middle class being less well off - it just means that the middle class has more to want.
So what do you thing? I mean, is your family feeling the middle class squeeze? Or is it just an illusion? Think about what you have and how much that really is, and then think about what you want, and how little you need it. It's an interesting question - I know many still believe that the middle class still, as always, gets screwed.
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7 comments:
No middle class person wants to be identified as a member of the low class. Every middle class person dreams of being in the upper class. Whats the problem, the middle class is the barely above average person. One does not receive the benefits of being extraordinary nor the benefits of being poor. My philosophy, it sucks but if we alter it too much than what dream will there be to try and become filthy rich?
Are rich Americans falling behind the super rich Americans? Here's an exclusive news report:
http://www.theonion.com/
content/video/in_the_know_
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Looking at the big picture, I would much rather be middle class than poor, because like Max pointed out, the middle class is fine. Yes, there are taxes and yes statistically we do work more, but the middle class is doing just fine. When you take out the middle class's wants and desires, and just focus on what they have, life looks pretty sweet.
But there needs to be something done about those crazy rich CEOs and CFOs in way-too-big business. A line really should be drawn.
Personally, my family is only feeling the squeeze from the multitudinous expenses of college that are soon upon us all. Other than that, we've adopted a kind of hippy, hey-the-VHS-player-still-works, nothings-been-updated-for-17-years, simplistic lifestyle.
On the other hand, the family I babysit for (just down the street, exact same house design) are constantly remodeling, have the latest technology, are buried under a mountain of Lincoln Logs and Thomas trucks, and pay me way more than what I'm worth.
So, I have to say, affluence is the key to feeling the "squeeze".
btw, i love the video benji linked.
k, now that I have time to say something...
First of all, there is always going to be a "middle class", and divisions within all the classes. That's a bell curve for you. Unfortunately, the disparity between the super rich and impoverished is immense, and getting larger all the time. There have always been people that are richer than others, but now there are people that are hella richer than everyone else, while others starve. Our focus shouldn't be on the "middle class," since there's always going to be one. Instead, we have to push the bell curve so that the relatively poor have food, water, and shelter, which they don't have right now. On the other hand, the life expectancy of the human race has increased by almost 20 years over the last century, so something good must be happening.
Now, in regard to the expectations of middle class people owning VCRs, computers, and other technology. How is that any different than it has ever been? When home radio came out, people were all over that. When TVs were invented, everyone needed one. Keeping up with the Jones' and all that 1950's stuff. And about college being a necessity? What about when getting a job in the city became a necessity instead of just working your whole life on the family farm? Same thing, nothing's changed.
In fact, I'd say that people today are less materialistic than they have been in the past, since we're all so much more aware of the environment and the affect we have on it then we ever have been.
First of all, I think that the middle class is getting squeezed because it is just that-- the middle class. Not enough money to get tax cuts, but too much money to get aid. If you think that that is fair, you're insane. Meanwhile, I don't believe that this squeeze is an illusion, or that the middle class is better off than it ever has been. Max is sort of understating the fact that back then, middle class families wanted more than a single microwave. Back then, they liked to spend their money on whatever they could buy, whether it be a t.v., a radio, a microwave, new funiture, new clothes, or even a nice backyard. It's not that today's middle class wants more; it's just that times are a little different now than they were in the past.
Yeah, we're feeling it. It's is probably true that the middle class does want more than we did a long time ago, but there is a lot more to want. And just because there's more to want doesn't excuse the fact that all the rich people get all of the tax cuts. It's stupid and unfair.
ps, why do we always have to type in this stupid word verification thing? It drives me crazy!
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