middle class

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Average Isn&#39;t Good Enough Anymore in America
Average Isn't Good Enough Anymore in America
Thomas Friedman
Jan 25, 2012 12:57 PM CST

Average Isn't Good Enough Anymore in America

Globalization, technology have pushed out the average guy

(Newser) - Once upon a time, an average worker with average skills could expect an average lifestyle in America—but not anymore. "Today, average is officially over," writes Thomas Friedman of the New York Times . Average people can't expect the lifestyle they used to enjoy, because "employers have...

Apple Proves It: Jobs 'Aren't Coming Back' to America

Asia provides workers, flexibility that US can't match

(Newser) - Last year, President Obama asked Steve Jobs whether iPhones could be made in the US instead of Asia. Jobs was blunt: “Those jobs aren’t coming back." The New York Times takes a long look at why. In short, Asia has a surplus of engineers and factory workers...

Middle-Class Neighborhoods Dying Off

Stanford study says numbers have dropped sharply since 1970

(Newser) - A major new study from Stanford finds that America's middle class is shrinking in a big way, reports the New York Times . The researchers looked at 117 of the nation's biggest metropolitan areas and discovered that 44% of families live in areas defined as middle class, down from...

One in 3 Falling Out of Middle Class

New study shows downward mobility is rampant

(Newser) - Downward mobility is rampant in the US, with a third of Americans who grew up in the middle class falling out of it as adults, according to a new Pew Study ( pdf ). “A middle-class upbringing does not guarantee the same status over the course of a lifetime,...

Poverty Shouldn't Be A Crime: Barbara Ehrenreich
 We've Made It 
 a Crime to Be Poor 
barbara ehrenreich
Aug 13, 2011 2:21 PM CDT

We've Made It a Crime to Be Poor

10 years after 'Nickel and Dimed,' author Ehrenreich says things are even worse

(Newser) - A decade after her expose on America's working poor, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich has a sobering assessment: "Things have gotten much worse, especially since the economic downturn that began in 2008," she writes in Salon . For one thing, the economy was booming around 2000 when she...

America's 'Disneyland Dream' Is Dead
America's 'Disneyland
Dream' Is Dead
Frank Rich
Dec 26, 2010 12:22 PM CST

America's 'Disneyland Dream' Is Dead

Frank Rich: 'Outrageous gap' between rich and poor makes a joke of it

(Newser) - The death of Robbins Barstow, an American dad whose home movie of his family's vacation to Disneyland in 1956 is in the Library of Congress, has Frank Rich lamenting the loss of the American dream. Or more precisely the Disneyland Dream, as Barstow labeled his film. Watching it now brings...

Why America Is So Angry and Miserable
Why America Is So Angry and Miserable
OPINION
Sep 23, 2010 8:53 AM CDT

Why America Is So Angry and Miserable

Blame our culture of entitlement, victimhood, and greed

(Newser) - These days, America seems defined by a near-ubiquitous “simmering resentment, frustration, and anger,” writes Charles Hugh Smith on his Of Two Minds blog. Why is that? Smith blames:
  • A culture of entitlement: From Social Security recipients to Wall Street welfare queens, “most of us have to elbow
...

Middle Class Voter to Obama: I'm Still Waiting for Change

Woman fears return to hot-dogs-and-beans era

(Newser) - An angry black middle class voter confronted President Obama at a Town Hall meeting yesterday, saying: "I'm still waiting " for change. The woman, at the meeting arranged and broadcast live by CNBC, said she was "exhausted" defending the president, "exhausted defending the mantle of change that...

1 in 3 US Households Has No Life Insurance

Coverage of middle-class families wanes

(Newser) - As increasing financial pressure bears down on middle-class families, ever more are cutting life insurance from their household budgets. About 35 million US households, almost a third, now have no life insurance whatsoever, up from 24 million households in 2004. Many households have recently lost employer-sponsored coverage due to layoffs...

Middle Class Morphs Into 'New Poor'

Ever more Americans heading downward

(Newser) - At first, it seemed the financial crisis wouldn't leave the US deeply scarred, that's we'd ultimately emerge from it with renewed energy—until Americans stopped to look around and realized that somewhere along the way the middle-class had atrophied, leaving a small super-rich elite and swelling ranks of the poor....

As Sales Slump, Wal-Mart Cuts Prices

Watchers see ploy to hold on to middle class post-recession

(Newser) - Wal-Mart will discount around 10,000 items in the face of dipping sales, even as other retailers report increases in business. The move could be a ploy to hang on to middle-class shoppers, who flocked to the big-box behemoth in the depths of the recession but have been upgrading as...

4 Dystopias Health Reform Will Prevent


 4 Dystopias 
 Health Reform 
 Will Prevent 
ZOMBIE PLAGUES, FOR ONE
Mar 24, 2010 10:50 PM CDT

4 Dystopias Health Reform Will Prevent

Could Obamacare prevent zombie plagues?

(Newser) - Perhaps the best way to explore how health-care reform will affect our lives is to consider the fictional dystopias the Obamacare society won't have to endure. Or, have io9 do it for you:
  1. A mutant plague. A rich country in which 30 million people have no access to preventative care
...

Middle Class Losing Health Insurance Fastest

Families squeezed as prices soar, employers drop coverage

(Newser) - Middle-class Americans are losing their health insurance coverage faster than any other group, with 16.2% of people in the income bracket finding themselves without coverage in 2008. That’s 12.9 million uninsured—up from 10.5 million in 2000—among families who make between $45,000 and $85,...

Battered Middle Class Reports Struggling, Stalling
Battered Middle Class Reports Struggling, Stalling
Poll Numbers
Mar 15, 2010 1:55 PM CDT

Battered Middle Class Reports Struggling, Stalling

Those with college educations doing far better than others

(Newser) - The middle class is feeling the pinch. Of the 45% of Americans who consider themselves middle class—a fraction that's pretty much held steady for 4 decades—four in 10 say they’re struggling to remain there, according to a new ABC News poll. The biggest factor: education. Among those...

Obama Says He's 'Agnostic' on Middle-Class Tax Hike

Wants all options on the table to cut deficit

(Newser) - President Obama said Tuesday that he is "agnostic" about tax hikes for households making less than $250,000 a year, because he needs to consider all possible options for reducing the deficit. “What I can’t do is to set the thing up where a whole bunch of...

Obama's State of the Union Stars Middle Class

Proposals include child care tax credit, student loan payment cap

(Newser) - Barack Obama will aim his State of the Union address straight at the middle class, proposing a host of modest programs to benefit what the White House calls “the sandwich generation”—those struggling to care for their aging parents while simultaneously sending their kids to college. Those initiatives...

Choose, America: Big Banks or Middle Class
 Choose, America: 
 Big Banks or Middle Class 
ELIZABETH WARREN
Dec 3, 2009 11:10 AM CST

Choose, America: Big Banks or Middle Class

Bank shenanigans are destroying the building block of America

(Newser) - The inevitable consequence of letting big banks run wild is nothing less than the extinction of the American middle class. "Unthinkable,” Elizabeth Warren writes—but a real and dire possibility. Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, has seen the numbers, and they aren't pretty....

Young Grow Poorer While Old Get Richer

Recession socks Americans born after 1955

(Newser) - Young and middle-aged people, particularly men, saw their incomes plummet from 2000 to 2008, leaving many age groups at 30-year nadirs, new Census data show. The recession has exacerbated the problem, widening the gap between young and old at an unprecedented rate, USA Today reports. Worst hit were those in...

Time May Be Right to Talk Raising Taxes

In poll, less than half of Americans say they pay too much

(Newser) - If the administration must raise taxes, now could be its big chance, NPR reports. Only 46% of Americans in a recent Gallup poll said their taxes were too high—the smallest fraction since 1961. “Americans, relatively speaking, are more satisfied with the amount of taxes they pay than they...

From Food to Health Care, the Poor Pay More

The economics of poverty mean the poorest pay higher prices for everyday essentials

(Newser) - The economics of poverty are complicated, the Washington Post reports, but it boils down to this: “The poorer you are, the more things cost.” The poor spend more in time, money, hassle, and exhaustion than do the middle class or wealthy on everything from a loaf of bread...

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