A. Topic Statement: The middle class wage has not risen in 15 years. In fact, the percentage of middle-class households in America is actually decreasing. Median household income has fallen since the financial crisis of 2008, while income for the wealthiest of Americans has actually increased.…
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,…
Borstelmann notes, “The gap between rich and poor grew wider, startlingly so at times, and the bulk of the vaunted American middle class saw its economic security begin to slip away” (Borstelmann, 306). With the U.S. economy during the time period placing a premium on education, college graduates and those with advanced degrees saw their income rise. At the same time, due to globalization, lower numbers of unionized workers, and higher divorce rates, workers with high school diplomas saw a drop in their income while political leaders sat by and did nothing to mitigate this growing trend toward inequality. The U.S. had the most uneven distribution of wealth of any industrialized nation, where poverty rates reached 15 percent in 1994 and remained at 13 percent in 2008. Borstelmann notes “the rate was 18 percent for minors; nearly one in five American children were growing up in poverty in the new millennium” (Borstelmann, 308).…
After an outbreak in Europe on the 14th century known as the Black Death, caused about 25 million people to die over a five-year period. This made Europe go through a major change. Although in the beginning it indeed negatively affected them, but also it resulted wealth later on across the European population. Allowing them for new opportunities for many of the workers who were only serfs before. Due to the great loss of the population more bullion was available for the rest of the small population that was left. This meant more wealth across all classes. This led to the creation of such now called middle class. It…
The shift in the different working systems led to a shift in economic thinking. Adam Smith’s Laissez Faire policies were thought to be the key factor in a controlled economy. Agriculture shifted to the cottage industry and then the cottage industry shifted to the factory system. Thus, decreasing opportunities for both urban and rural working classes. Due to this, the quality of life, also known as the standard of living, had shifted. Population increase, mostly due to the disappearance of the plague and the availability of medicine had many people desperate for jobs. In the 18th and early 19th century, the shift in economic thinking provided a more liberal economy, which later turned out to affect the different working classes in aspects such as conditions and regulations, ultimately, lowering the standard of living.…
The middle class felt depreciation towards labor and the working class while the working class were overburdened and exhausted by their occupation and felt resentment for other employees; however a few middle class citizens crossed the social class line to tell of the burden the working class had to carry. Although the working class pulled off their jobs, they were belittled and ignored. If they were thought of, it was usually in a poor way. At least there were some middle class citizens who believed in the plight of the working class.…
Median wages have been flat for decade or more. The quality of available jobs is declining, with a shift toward part-time and contingent work. while the Great Recession intensified these trends and added a staggering loss of housing wealth, the problems go further back and are far more systemic. In 1970s, the united state saw the growth of the country's middle class, with plenty of job prospects and economic conditions that generate business opportunities. Later on step by step that great middle class started to die out. In the article “RIP, Middle Class: 1946-2013” by Edward McClelland, the author discussed the factor that resulted of the failure of the middle class, he also said that the decline of the middle class resulted from the failure of the government policies, the failure of government to protect the interests of ordinary Americans to achieve and hold onto a middle-class standard of living. In the article, the author was so clever about his title because the title has that attention-getting element. Also he used lots of fact and dates to make the audience on his side (MacClelland…
In the documentary “Inequality for All,” Robert Reich asserts that while some inequality is inevitable, the United States needs to focus on making people less unequal by decreasing the wage gap and making a more stable economy; furthermore, he provides eye-opening facts that allow for me to understand how much this inequality will impact the cost of my future education. All throughout history, the middle class has fallen deeper into debt in order to maintain their living situations. Since the middle class has to ration their money, they cannot afford the products that are being made. In addition, the rich do not spend enough of what they make, so not enough economic activity is generated. Other topics that impact economic growth are globalization…
This is shown in the article “What is The Great Gatsby Curve?” by David Vandivier when he talks about the Great Gatsby Curve and predictions for success and wealth for people in America. In the article it talks about how the rich have more of an advantage and opportunities than the poor, but just because they have more resources and advantages doesn’t mean that poor people can’t obtain wealth. There are many things out there to help the poor and middle class have a sustainable life in society and to reach their dreams. Opportunities have advanced because “President Obama has advanced a number of policies to give greater opportunity for the middle class and those striving to join the middle class” (Vandivier). The president proposed for high-quality preschool regardless of family background, and to raise the minimum wage to $9 per hour. Also there are programs out there such as affordable care act, programs that provide food stamps, support for unstable families, free education from elementary school to high school, because of this there are opportunities which can help the poor reach success and wealth. Although it’s a given that “Children of wealthy parents already have much more access to opportunities to succeed than children of poor families” (Vandivier) but opportunities help poor families reach wealth, but it will definitely but harder for them than the…
Alex Lopez Lena Barry D Wolfe History- 1302 Jul-16 The Great Depression Although some citizens today believe that the stock market crash in 1929 caused The Great Depression, history shows that the economic conditions in the U.S prior to the market crash weren’t even close to ideal. Yes, the 1920’s featured intense consumerism that aided the U.S economy. The problem was that credit and installment buying fueled much of this consumerism; which turned out to be unsustainable. The agricultural sector kept suffering from prize reductions and many farmers had to close down their farms due to the large debt in which these farm owners fell trying to buy machinery to increase production.…
Poverty the lower section of social class means you don’t make a sufficient amount of money, meaning you aren’t able to buy the necessities to be successful. If you are able to you are more likely to succeed. According to Source F, there are two types of inequality in social class that we have in America. But the one type we are most concerned with is called Red Inequality. Red Inequality is between those who have college degrees and those who do not. This affects the middle class, the average people in our society who make up the majority of our society as well. Statistics show that college graduates around the 1980s made about 40% more than those who did not go to college. Today that number has jumped up to 75% more. It also suggests that college grads have more benefits such as, being more likely to get married, less likely to get divorced, less likely to have a child out of wedlock, less likely to smoke, less likely to be obese, be more active in their communities, have more friendships, etc.. Which would also make them more likely to…
During the Victorian period the middle class grew in size and importance. It made up about fifteen percent of the population. The middle class was a diverse group that included everyone between the working class and the elite class. The middle class included successful industrialists and wealthy bankers. It also included poor clerks that normally earned only half as much as skilled workers such as a printer or a railway engine driver, but a clerk would still be considered middle class, because income was not the defining factor of class, the source of the income was.…
We know in the world of today, most households have two incomes to maintain the basic everyday needs. We all have worked jobs that paid bare minimum, gave crappy hours along with fatigue. Gilbert and Henslin divided the lower class into the Working Poor and the Underclass (Gilbert The American Class Structure 1998). The Working Poor’s employment is in the service and manual labor and the Underclass relies solely on government aid and has not participate in the workforce.…
Once upon a time the United States had the largest and most vibrant middle class in the history of the world. The rest of the globe looked at America in envy and wondered what they were doing right. But now everything seems to be going wrong for the middle class. Millions of their jobs have been shipped out of the country and competition for the remaining jobs is keeping wages at depressed levels. Meanwhile, the cost of living just keeps going up and up and middle class budgets are being stretched and strained like never before. Millions more Americans fall out of the middle class and into poverty every single year and government dependence is at an all-time high.…
It is our generation's task, then, to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth - a rising, thriving middle class.…