How America Killed Its Middle Class

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by bhunter

So what? We know it's a right leaning think tank. Podesta's sand box is much the same, but from the left's perspective.

You did notice that I was replying to Whell's assertion that his source was without hyperbole, right? You may choose to see some sort of equivalence in that source vis a vis the OPs but I certainly don't. So fuckin' what back atcha Brent.

[bhunter]

Hartmann is probably relying on Robert Reich's recent article. Here's an opposing viewpoint.

Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry: The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class


It is true enough that, when adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the average hourly wage of nonsupervisory workers in America has remained about the same. But not just for three decades. The average hourly wage in real dollars has remained largely unchanged from at least 1964—when the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) started reporting it.

Moreover, there are several problems with this measurement of wages. First, the CPI overestimates inflation by underestimating the value of improvements in product quality and variety. Would you prefer 1980 medical care at 1980 prices, or 2013 care at 2013 prices? Most of us wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter.

Second, this wage figure ignores the rise over the past few decades in the portion of worker pay taken as (nontaxable) fringe benefits. This is no small matter—health benefits, pensions, paid leave and the rest now amount to an average of almost 31% of total compensation for all civilian workers according to the BLS.

Third and most important, the average hourly wage is held down by the great increase of women and immigrants into the workforce over the past three decades. Precisely because the U.S. economy was flexible and strong, it created millions of jobs for the influx of many often lesser-skilled workers who sought employment during these years.

Americans are also much better able to enjoy their longer lives. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending by households on many of modern life's "basics"—food at home, automobiles, clothing and footwear, household furnishings and equipment, and housing and utilities—fell from 53% of disposable income in 1950 to 44% in 1970 to 32% today.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...49723138161566

The bottom line is that the status of the middle class is not as dire as the left claims. Their fixation with the relative wealth of the wealthy while serially propping them up via the Federal Reserve and their cronyism says more than all their strident demagoguery.

[bobabode]

Care to back up Whell's fairytale article BH?

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by bhunter

Hartmann is probably relying on Robert Reich's recent article. Here's an opposing viewpoint.



The bottom line is that the status of the middle class is not as dire as the left claims. Their fixation with the relative wealth of the wealthy while serially propping them up via the Federal Reserve and their cronyism says more than all their strident demagoguery.

Your opposing viewpoint is exactly the one Whell linked to.

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Your opposing viewpoint is exactly the one Whell linked to.

No it isn't. The one I posted has different authors that are academic economists, albeit on the right.

Robert Reich and Paul Krugman are the pair that are usually carrying the water for the left. Reich's just old and was never all that great, but Krugman was good but then liked the notion of being a popular writer more than an economist IMHO.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Your opposing viewpoint is exactly the one Whell linked to.

I'll take the little guy's interpretation over the blathering of this author.

Steve Conover retired recently from a 35-year career in corporate America. He has a BS in engineering, an MBA in finance, and a PhD in political economy.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by bhunter

No it isn't. The one I posted has different authors that are academic economists, albeit on the right.

Robert Reich and Paul Krugman are the pair that are usually carrying the water for the left. Reich's just old and was never all that great, but Krugman was good but then liked the notion of being a popular writer more than an economist IMHO.

Mr. Boudreaux is professor of economics at George Mason University and chair for the study of free market capitalism at the Mercatus Center. Mr. Perry is a professor of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Whatever Brent.

[BlueStreak]

I just want to make it to retirement before some excessively ambitious a-hole decides he deserves my money more than I do. It looks like I'm losing ground and losing it fast.

Do any of you pontificating yak-a-lots have a suggestion that's not untethered and floating aimlessly in your personal ideologisphere?

Dave

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Care to back up Whell's fairytale article BH?

As opposed to what, the same old dusty trope of the downfall of the middle class perpetuated by the left. The progressive politicians that are knowingly using a poor indicator to demonize their opposition and drum up the emotions of their base. The paper I cited describes exactly why the left's position wrt to middle class stagnation ought be taken for what it is, namely, demagoguery.

You can argue the points in their paper, but it isn't fair to dismiss them just because their politics differ from yours.


PS: Did you watch the Coachella Festival? I think we need a thread on that in Of Topic.

[bobabode]

Nope. Anybody decent play there?