Growing up in the 1990s, I was always told that the middle class was the backbone of the American economy. The middle class was even more prominent from the 1940s to the 1980s. Factory jobs, mom and pop shops, and small businesses were everywhere and it was quite easy to get a job. “In the mid-60s, you could figuratively roll out of bed and find a manufacturing job” (McClelland 552). Unfortunately, this is no longer true; blue collar, middle class jobs are increasingly more difficult to find. In Edward McClelland’s article, “RIP, the Middle Class 1946-2013,” Edward blames the government for not being more involved instead of leaving the free market sustain the middle class. I agree with his position whole heartedly. The dwindling middle class that used to be the backbone of the American economy is the direct effect of the stepping to the side and not being involved enough in the…
Robert Frank, a professer at Cornell University, published an article for the New York Times on October 16, 2010. The title of the article was "Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore". In "Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore", Frank argues that there are differences in the social classes of the American people and that it is having a negative effect on our economy's growth. Frank explains that middle class citizens are in a struggle to maintain a good financial position. Meanwhile, the upper class citizens are spending copious amounts of money which makes it increasingly more difficult for the middle class to meet their basic needs. He says that the middle class are looking toward upper class citizens, comparing their posesions as well as their financial positions which makes the middle class feel financially unstable.…
In the essay, “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much” Catherine Rampell, the economic journalist for the New York Times defends college graduates. The reaction from many older Americans is that this, “Facebook generation” are the laziest generation ever. Three in four Americans believe that today’s youth are less virtuous and industrious than their elders. One thing that has made life easier for this generation is technology. Technology has made life easier for the younger generation, and the way young adults work now is very different to what it was before. Nowadays college students spend less hours studying, however the grade point average rose to about 3.11 by the middle of the last decade. Many college students of today work more and save…
The prosperity of the “Roaring Twenties” had left Americans extremely vulnerable to the economic depression that they would face in the 1930s. On October 29th, 1929 the stock market crashed and in an instant the Great Depression had unleashed it terror on the American workforce. As a result, unemployment rates rose dramatically and by 1932 just under 40% of the nation’s workers(non-farm workers) were without work.(Doc. 8) Along with the unprecedented unemployment levels, bank and business failures mounted, and those in poverty increased significantly. Similar to past presidents, Herbert Hoover maintained the government’s laissez faire attitude when dealing with the economy and strongly believed in “rugged individualism” the idea that the American people could pull the nation out of the depression with ‘hard work’ and ‘self- reliance’. Despite Hoover’s best efforts, the American people had begun to reject this policy and the country’s morale continued to decline. But the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 buoyed the nation’s hopes with his fresh ideas and…
For as long most people can remember, the middle class has been the economic majority in the United States. In Edward McClelland's article "RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013", McClelland argues the sooner than later, the middle class will be merely nonexistent and the economy will only consist of rich and poor. He casually explains to middle class American citizens what the past middle class looked like, how the middle class stands now, and some hardships that people of the recession experienced. Growing up in the 1970's, McClelland describes how someone didn't need to graduate high school to obtain a job that could support a family, but now, in the twenty-first century, even with a high school diploma and four years of college education, no well paying jobs are promised. In this article,…
As the middle-class cut its social ties to the wage earners, their authority began to diminish over issues of morality, sobriety, and productivity. Revival religion became a solution for the middle-class in attempts to resolve the problems of class and order during the early stages of the market revolution. Through the influence of religious revival, there was a strong push for work discipline and adjustments in social behavior. The middle class believed that promoting religious revival to the young, uneducated and rowdy wage laborers would be an effective “social control” tool to discipline the workforce. “A free society must teach men to govern themselves, and there is no greater inducement to self-restraint than belief in God” (136). These…
Stiglitz points out many of the crisis points to affect our past economic history, from the Great Depression to the now Great Recession, the Technology Bubble, the Housing Bubble, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, and the so-called Fiscal-Cliff Era with federal deficit levels that challenge our national GDP and unemployment so high that they no longer reflect the work force that has stopped looking for jobs. Stiglitz recognizes the roles these conditions and man-made circumstances have played in the financial inequities that now exist throughout his discussion of the inequity situation. But, he sees the underlying cause for the continued and ever increasing divide that has become this two-tiered socio-economic system of the 1% Haves and the 99% Have-nots that plagues the political atmosphere as the core to the inequities. To Stillitz politics on both sides of the aisle through the…
Blinder begins his argument by describing how the labor market has changed over the past few decades. Today, a college degree is something that is considered necessary for getting a good and well-paying job. In contrast, thirty years ago, many jobs were filled with high school graduates or even high school dropouts. Blinder states that this shift is thought to be a main cause of income inequality, which means that now, the lower skilled and uneducated workers face a big disadvantage (441). During the 1990s, a few steps were taken to fix this problem, like raising the minimum wage. In this decade, there has been a push to send more kids to college and further educate them. As we look forward to the future, however, the issue is not with education…
Mill also believes that members of the rising middle class who are successful in business and rising to the upper class should have the bulk of the political power. Mill believes being good in business takes all when it comes to government. Mill supports this theory by stating that in order to make it in business, one has to know what the people need and want and be more efficient than your competitors. Mill believes in order for a government to be successful, it must be run similar to a business and cater to the needs of people while remaining efficient.…
Cited: Colbert, Stephen, Michael C. Brumm, and Andrew Matheson. "Jobs." America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren 't. New York: Grand Central Pub., 2012. 16-47. Print.…
The United States has been debating what to do concerning the foreclosure and banking crisis, with the answer being the consideration of a 700 billion dollar bailout. This bailout would benefit the middle class who have enough money and credit to buy a house, but give little benefit to the rich who may already own several houses, nor the lower classes, who are not typically able to afford a house. The current focus seems to be on helping only those middle-class people who made financially foolish decisions. Our nation 's working poor most likely cannot get access to bank loans, and must resolve on check cashing stores that loan money at over 14 percent interest. These working class and poor most likely do not have enough credit to qualify for a loan, so the bailout to the middle class will give little or no benefit to this specific group. The bailout is for the moderately rich who were careless with the use of their strong credit and ability to borrow cheaply on an almost continuous basis. According to the U.S. Dept of labor, the number of workers in June 2008, among working class, as defined as construction and manufacturing non-farm employment was 21,565 thousand workers; retail trade…
In the article, "Should Everyone Go To College?" written by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill, in the Center on Children and Families at BROOKINGS. This article discusses the benefits of a college degree. In this section, you may also find many statistics and arguments over attending or not attending college. For the past few decades, a college degree has been argued as a prerequisite to entering the middle class in the United States. Study after study reminds us that higher education is one of the best investments (Owens and Sawhill).…
The United States economy took a turn for the worse in 2008, and has been steadily declining ever since. The reason for the financial crisis began with the failing of the financial institutions, which threatened the global economy. The reason for the failing of the largest financial institutions can be debated, but many believe that it was due to the failure of accurately and safely evaluating the risks involved in their lending procedures. Whatever the reason, the recession had a massive impact on the country, and none were affected more than the Americans living at or below the poverty level. These people are known as the American underclass.…
Gene Marks is a contributor to Forbes and the author of the article, “If I were a poor black kid.” In the beginning of his article he agrees with Mr. Obama and quotes the president’s statement, “This is the defining issue of our time…This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.” It is hard not to agree with the president and Mr. Marks that these are important times for the middle class. However, Marks seems to think that technology is the way forward, which oversimplifies this complex problem. He refers, over nine times in the article, that “technology” is the way out of poverty.…
In the documentary film “Capitalism a love story” Michael Moore demonstrates the failure of Capitalism as an economic system in America. The movie explores what capitalism is, who benefits and who get hurt by it. The film clearly shows how capitalism was hijacked by special interests and how it decimated the middle class, making it so much smaller while at the same time enlarging the poor underclass. It can be seen how at the same time that Wall Street and the banks grew, society’s devastation was soon to follow. It is clear in the film that the poorest, uneducated, and hardworking middle class are the most likely people to be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous corporations such as the home loan industry, and many others business out there. The removal of government regulations was the beginning of the problem. Special interest groups sent their agents to Washington to change the politician’s heads so that they could stop the regulations that were in their way. Without the regulations those rich corporations would become even wealthier. Michael Moore shows us how profit makers and special interests can control the seats of the government. He demonstrated this through many examples throughout the film.…