Thursday, December 15, 2011

Poverty rising, middle class shrinking while the rich get richer


Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans – nearly 1 in 2 – have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families."Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too `rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty."The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."
Read the rest at The Huffington Post
U.S. Poverty: Census Finds Nearly Half Of Americans Are Poor Or Low-Income

Alarm bells signaling that the American dream is in deep trouble should be going off. This does not bode well for the future of America.

2 comments:

Clonal said...

See my comments and links on the Mish gasoline thread -- particularly about the
labor participation rate.

Bob said...

The new world order is in full swing, eliminate the critical thinking middle class with substandard edumacation, bring in the latins and yemens and egyptians immigrant workers who are starving in thier own country,
now the banks (existing central bank system and all its happy rich members) will have the sheeple to rule, with an oligarthy style front man like Regan was to Wall Street in the 80's. Where does it end. It ends with the national guard and marines being called out against our own people in the inner cities to start. Than spreads to the country side. We have had 100 years of exponential interest growth due to no cop on the block to do the volker shuffle or a professor black to kick some banker arse. Now we will all pay for the human condition of permitting inbalances and excesses not of the majority but of the 1% who took from everyone else. Only thing can save us now is a big shock in the next round of elections to "throw the bums out".
The call should be to scrap the federal reserve act and put the money control back into the hands of the treasury. At least we can get rid of the banksters every 4 years, after all the mission of this so called banking system is an abyssmal failure, stable pricing, full employment has not happened, however the boom and busts have always made the banking system rich no matter what happens to the people. I say scrap it revoke the federal reserve act. Would be best if it were done on XMAS eve.