Middle class feels squeeze

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Middle class feels squeeze
43
Mon, 07-12-2004 - 4:31pm
I know we've discussed this before, but I couldn't find the thread. So--

Cynthia Tucker - Universal Press Syndicate

07.12.04 - By now, Karl Rove and his minions had expected that improved jobs reports would have boosted the president's election prospects immeasurably. After all, the stock market is doing just fine and corporate profits are going gangbusters. How come so many workers are still worried?

Well, most workers don't get to share the bounty of those corporate profits. Even with the popularity of 401(k)s, which are replacing traditional pensions, only about half of all Americans own stock. The average American is still feeling what John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, call the "middle-class squeeze."

Already, jobs growth, which picked up in March, has begun to slow considerably. The report from the month of June showed a disappointing 112,000 new jobs, fewer than necessary to keep pace with population growth. Even more telling is this: When Bush came into office, 64.4 percent of all American adults were working. That figure has now dropped to 62.3.

For those who are working, hourly wages have declined slightly over the last year after adjusting for inflation. And many of the manufacturing jobs that boosted generations of Americans into the middle class are probably gone forever -- lost to computers and Chinese workers.

Add to that soaring health-care costs. Workers are having to pay more of their insurance costs, reducing their take-home pay. Or they are stuck with jobs that provide no health insurance.

As if that were not enough, Alan Greenspan recently raised interest rates and is expected to keep raising them for the next several months. As he does, many average Americans will find it harder to pay off their monthly credit cards bills or get a mortgage. During the recession, they had used those credit cards to keep up their standard of living (and buy the nation out of that recession). Many families now have substantial credit card debt.

Bush is not responsible for the global tidal wave that has swamped U.S. manufacturing or the credit card debt that threatens to bankrupt many families. The president didn't create an out-of-control health-care system or push down hourly wages. But his natural affinity for the wealthy and well-connected has produced policies that are much more in tune with their interests than with those of average working folk.

According to the U.S. Census, yearly median family income is $51,407. In terms of income distribution, the largest group of American families -- nearly 21 percent -- earn between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. Nearly 16 percent of American families live off incomes between $35,000 and $50,000 annually. That paints a picture of a substantial midsection -- nearly 37 percent of families -- with incomes between $35,000 and $75,000 a year.

Now take a look at the distribution of the Bush tax cuts. The American families earning between $43,000 and $76,000 have received only a 17 percent share of the tax cuts, according to an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. By contrast, the top 1 percent of income-earners has received a 24.2 percent share.

I know, I know. Those wealthy Americans paid more of the taxes, so they deserve more of the tax cut, right? Actually, they got more than they deserved, even by that measure. And they haven't used their tax cuts to produce substantial numbers of good-paying jobs for Americans. Wealthy investors are concerned only about increasing their profits. If replacing factory workers with robotic arms does that, they gladly install the robotic arms.

Much of the economy is beyond the control of any president. But shoring up the general welfare is not. Bush had a responsibility to expand the social safety net -- extend unemployment benefits, create access to health care -- for those Americans who are falling further behind, despite their best efforts.

Instead, the president has coddled the wealthy.

http://www.workingforchange.com/printitem.cfm?itemid=17269

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 1:35pm
Where to start....?

"By now, Karl Rove and his minions "

Well I'm feeling impartiality here...aren't you?

"The average American is still feeling what John Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, call the "middle-class squeeze."

Like these guys know what middle class is.

"When Bush came into office, 64.4 percent of all American adults were working. That figure has now dropped to 62.3"

Recession was beginning at the end of CLinton's term. An economy this large takes time to rebound completely. It will and then it will grow.


"Bush is not responsible for the global tidal wave that has swamped U.S. manufacturing or the credit card debt that threatens to bankrupt many families. The president didn't create an out-of-control health-care system or push down hourly wages."

Well she gets something right....


"But his natural affinity for the wealthy and well-connected has produced policies that are much more in tune with their interests than with those of average working folk. "

She meant Kerry right? They both come from rich families. Which isn't necessarily bad but please, call a spade a spade, and Kerry is definity a spade in this case.


"Bush had a responsibility to expand the social safety net -- extend unemployment benefits, create access to health care --"

"Bush had a responsibility to expand the taxes on everyone"....well that's what she really meant to say.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 1:45pm
With thousands of textile and furniture jobs going overseas, one might think the Southern economy was going down the tubes. But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (search) the South has the lowest unemployment rate in the country — 5.0 compared to the national average of 5.6.

While the mill and factory closings are very real, the region manages to create more jobs than it loses. During the last recession when the United States lost nearly 2 million jobs, non-farm employment in the South actually grew.

Analysts say the relatively low cost of living, right-to-work laws and active recruitment by state governments have helped lure foreign investment to the region; a Chinese appliance maker even opened a refrigerator plant in Camden, S.C.

And as transportation and communications improve, many American entrepreneurs are choosing to move or set up shop in the South, lured by the moderate climate and the quality of life.

Author and Southern entrepreneur Joe Hollingsworth (search) said the leadership culture stems from region's old rural traditions — if you break something you fix it, and if you lose jobs, well, you make new ones.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 2:26pm

Here are a few threads on this subject of

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 7:24pm
Is this from "The Southern Advantage" by Joe Hollingsworth?


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 7:50pm
Thanks for the contribution. It is good to have all the information in one place.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 11:01am
You are completely correct. President Bush keeps talking about a growing economy and an improved job market. Well, the average Americans are still suffering under the Bush Administration. Under President Bush, the rich have gotten richer and the middle class has gotten screwed! Consumer confidence is up for the people earning $50,000. Everyone below that level doesn't have much confidence in the economy. The Shrub can continue to lie to the American people about the state of the economy or for a change he could tell the truth. Don't hold your breath. Does the Shrub even know how to tell the truth.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 12:06pm
"Washington, D.C., April 7, 2004 — According to Tax Foundation calculations using the latest government data on income and taxes, Tax Freedom Day® in 2004 will be celebrated on April 11th, the earliest Tax Freedom Day for 37 years."

April 11th is three days earlier than 2003’s Tax Freedom Day of April 14 and an amazing 21 days earlier than in 2000, when the boom and bubble pushed tax burdens to a record high, and Tax Freedom Day was postponed until May 2

"Federal tax cuts have made the average American tax burden lighter in 2004,"


http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.html

Ask the "Shrub" about this.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 12:49pm
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My concern is that the ones who are getting hurt, care enough to vote for their pocketbook over the emotional topic of values. The economy can only be so depresseded before the economic cycle starts to swing upward. This is a most unusual situation, so no one has the "inside scoop".

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 12:54pm
<<"Federal tax cuts have made the average American tax burden lighter in 2004," >>

The key word here if average. The recent tax cut favored the very wealthy, disproportionaly. At the same time the debt increased alarmingly. We are borrowing the money from our children and grandchildren. But what they hey, that's their problem!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 2:55pm
"The recent tax cut favored the very wealthy, disproportionaly."

They pay taxes disproportionaly too. Can't have it both ways...

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