NOR IS IT HEADING FOR A “BRIGHT AND PROSPEROUS FUTURE”
In case you needed any additional evidence that U.S. President Barack Obama is completely full of it (he and his aiders and abettors in both parties in Washington, D.C.), there’s some big news breaking this week on the status of the American middle class.
You know … the class of Americans Obama vowed to fight for during his 2008 and 2012 elections (because politics is all about class warfare).
“Our top priority as a nation and my top priority as president must be doing everything we can to reignite the engine of America’s growth – a rising, thriving middle class,” Obama said in a recent radio address. “That’s our North Star. That must drive every decision we make.”
Former “Republican” presidential nominee Mitt Romney also boiled his race against Obama down to the middle class.
“That’s what this election is about,” Romney said during an October 2012 presidential debate. “It’s about who can get the middle class in this country a bright and prosperous future.”
Rising …
Thriving …
Bright …
Prosperous …
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH.
Back in the real world, a report from The New York Times laid bare the increasingly rapid decline of the middle class.
“The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction,” the report bluntly began. “While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.
“After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada – substantially behind in 2000 – now appear to be higher than in the United States,” the report continued, adding that “the poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.”
Wow …
Wanna see that dynamic visually? Of course not … none of us do.
But here it is …
(Click to enlarge)
(Chart via NYT)
The Times based its reporting on the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) database, which according to researchers at the Pew Center “shows how much different tiers of Americans have fallen behind their peers in other countries.”
“Americans in the 20th income percentile earned less in 2010 than Norwegians, Canadians, Dutch, Germans, Swedes and Finns in those countries’ respective 20th percentiles,” the Pew researchers note. “Three decades earlier, 20th-percentile Americans earned more than everyone except Canadians. American and Canadian median per capita incomes were about equal in 2010, at $18,700, according to the LIS data.”
Not anymore …
Why is America falling behind?
According to the Times the top reason is the slow growth of “educational attainment,” which has made it difficult for the country to “maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs.”
Thank you, government-run education.
There are simple solutions to reverse this downward trajectory – but none of them involve more government. In fact all of them involve less government – less taxpayer investment in education, crony capitalism,
Seriously, at this point it should be abundantly clear to everyone that the bipartisan orgy of government excess in Washington, D.C. has exacerbated, not alleviated, what ails the American middle class.
In fact that’s part of what our founding editor recently termed “the most dangerous realization in the world.”
The essence of this realization? Millions of American middle classers finally figuring out the dream they thought they could work hard to achieve is vanishing before their eyes … literally. All while the politicians who sold them the “big lie” continue draining them of their resources in order to subsidize handouts to the poor and bailouts for the rich.
78 comments
Wow…FITS is on the cutting edge. No one else had any idea…
i LOVE your reporting but your analysis is hilarious. TOO much investment in education is our problem? and you’re looking at the half empty glass – america still has the greatest per capita GDP. it just goes conveniently to a tiny group of people instead of being spread thin over all these poor people you despise.
You realize you can boost GDP numbers simply by creating money, correct?
muslim Obama and the regime planned all along toooo destroy the ‘middle class’ and grow the perpetual welfare train.The goal is toooo enslave millions toooo generational poverty so they become dependent on government for such essentials as housing,food and health care.It translates into votes and power for socialists like Obama and the democratic party.
So far the plan has been executed flawlessly with new reqriuts like Tom Ervin waiting in the wings toooo push forward such agenda.
Republicans have been destroying the middle class since the mid 1980s. That is when growth in after inflation incomes stopped for the middle class. That growth was shifted to the mega-wealthy by the theory of trickle down economics. ,
greedy unions,government regulations and exponential growth of the subsidized benefits the government hands out destroyed the middle class in this country.
You are a typical Koch Brothers dupe. You believe all the crap you hear on Fake News, Beck and Rush. Union membership peaked in the 1960 and collapsed in the 1980s, Welfare was reduced in the 1980s. The middle class was doing great from the end of the Great Depression through 1980. But ideologues don’t bother to research. They just repeat what they hear.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/union-membership-middle-class-income_n_3948543.html
The irony of you bitching about biased Fox, Beck, Rush and then linking to a HuffPo article is funny as hell!
The Fox News Boogey Man, is a myth created by liberals because you can’t believe anyone sees who, and what you really are…
Just like you fabricate numbers. Any real person knows you’re either a lair and/or a Dumb@$$. We EXPERIECE life under Obama. We know better than your than your the trolling ignorance you’re peddling…
Get a job. Try to raise a family. You’ll see that this economy is a MESS…and it is because Obama has done a VERY bad job of managing it…And we suffer the consequences of his poor performance….
So in your world, workers wouldn’t have the same right to negotiate for best compensation for their product en bloc the same way corporations negotiate for best prices? Sorry, unions balance out corporate power. Abuses can occur on EITHER side of the equation, but it doesn’t mean the equation is wrong. Look at Germany… economic powerhouse, and it has unions, better working conditions that we do, and incredible public education. In short, everything you and GT rail against. The one glaring difference is in corporate power.
STFU with that Redistribution Bull-$#!*..Go to Russia if you want Communism, or what’s left after Reagan defeated yall….There, you’ll see what “Have and Have Not” really is…
You’d be like L ee Harvey Oswald. You’d get over there, and find out you Ain’t $#!*, but another mal-content Fascist…and then they’d gas your stupid @$$ when you began whining about the Obama-types eating phat, while you lived in a tiny, freezing apt. worked in a gun-powder factor and ate $#!t sandwiches and washed it down w/ Vodka…
You Dumb@$$….
You know, your psychiatrist was serious when he said you needed to take ALL your medication EVERY day, GT….
Wow: You are so original…you MUST be a liberal, best and brightest…
No, I’m simply well – educated and capable of analyzing issues. I can even use logic and common sense (unlike GT and his delusional ranting). I am capable of understanding that the free market includes not simply business owners and managers, but also the workers who sell their skilled labor, knowledge, and experience to businesses to enable them to succeed. Interesting point – Any Rand and Marx both recognized the labor and skills of workers as a product to be sold to business. Marx may have gotten a lot wrong, but he did manage to get a few things right.
GT is Sic dolled up to create controversy on the site.
The “per capita” GD is an average. It would be the same if you had ten guys making 10% of the total each, or nine guys making 1% and one guy making 91%. Not a useful indicator of economic health in an economy.
Someone at FitsNews is suffering from poor reading comprehension. Obama said he hoped to “reignite the engine of America’s growth – a rising, thriving middle class,”…
He did not say that this has happened. And a primary reason this has not happened is the obstructionism of the Republicans in Congress with their obsession with deficits in a depressed economy.
If the NYT blames the stagnation of middle class incomes on inadequate education, they are not reading Krugman’s columns on inequality.
lol! muslim Obama wants to ‘reignite’ the engine of marxism that his daddy,grandparents,college professors and Rev.Wright taught him about.
Despite the admonition against casting pearls before swine:
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2014/04/paul-krugman-the-piketty-panic.html
I love how a “Muslim” like Obama goes to listen to a Christian preacher that the GOP can’t stop bringing up.
…and it’s a terrific high flier over the bleachers… I guess that one isn’t going to get a signature tonight, Bob!
Actually Muslim is just a euphemism.
Not only their obsession with deficits, their insistence that the middle class pay those deficits. Taxes for the richest Americans are at 50 year lows.
Your might better wipe the feces off your comment…because I know you pulled it out your @$$…
We appreciate the tax cuts Republicans have given us.Even more we have to contribute to the Democrats
Did you lose a bet and you have to make a D*#n fool of yourself as payment…or are you the Most-Ignorant Mother-F*#k#r on the face of the earth…????
LMAO…
You have to be one Stupid so-of-a-B!*ch to be an Obamite and a liberal..or are you Gay, and Obama Larry Sinclair-ed your @$$?…Hahahaha…Did you get a selfie…LMAO???..Hope Michelle doesn’t know…she’s an bruising Amazon. She’ll probably crush any effeminate liberal man (like Barack)…or you…
Hope he’s better at servicing you, than he is the American people…but I guess you can say he has screwed us over very well…
Three points in every big idiot Ts comments:
1: Obama..he thinks about the guy 24 hours a day. Kind of like little girls have crushes on boy bands.
2: he is really in to shit apparently..it comes up in every comment.
3: also strange obsession with homosexuality and anal sex.
Draw your own conclusion.
I conclude you smell like shit ‘fly’ and that Tom Ervin and muslim Obama apparently have the same problem.
According toooo Wikipedia, socialist/faux Biblical Christian Tom Ervin doesn’t even know when he was born-says 1951 OR 1952. Imagine that. Tom apparently dosen’t know what year he was born and muslim Obama doesn’t know where he was born and has a fake birtth certificate.
You can’t make this stuff up!!
LMAO….That’s hilarious….good one..
You really get worked up over fake Muslims don’t you?
Can you call dem/ socialist Ervin and find out what year he was born before Buz blames the MBACC and Tom Rice for ‘hacking’ Wikipedia?
You libs are idiots!
“And a primary reason this has not happened is the obstructionism of the
Republicans in Congress with their obsession with deficits in a
depressed economy.”
I don’t understand why this wasn’t resolved under Obama’s first term when Democrats controlled both houses. How can you argue obstructionism when Dems had control for O’s first term? Why didn’t they pass the needed deficit spending you proclaim as the cure then? How much deficit spending must we engage in before it starts to work? (and what is different about the deficit spending now versus Obama’s first term?)
Reading comprehension failure strikes again.
I agree.
You want obsession Tom? How about you and your liberal yankee buddies that stop all jobs and growth around you on the Waccamaw neck? You fight against any jobs for the poor to get in Georgetown. You fight to stop all development. But guess what Tom you’re gonna get a big concrete median in Pawleys Island now. Good luck with that one Tom.
There is no ‘thriving middle class’ anymore in America. What middle class there is…..is maintaining the status by heavily borrowing from their futures. A job loss…a risky business move…a failed investment….is enough to upset the balance and plunge them towards failure. Of course, after a hit like that, it is always a slow slide for the middle class, but a slide DOWN the ladder nonetheless. Any experienced person who made it up…down…and back up….will tell you for sure that the ‘ladder’ that Obama talks about….THAT works very very efficiently when you are sliding down…many ways there are for the system to push you further down….but it very inefficient and dysfunctional when you want to climb up….no one will lend a helping hand.
Even the ranchers are hurting:
Hannity claimed that he and Glenn Beck wanted to see the situation defused and that it was getting too volatile. He called the situation a prescription for disaster like Waco and Ruby Ridge. Hannity then turned on Bundy, “His comments are beyond repugnant. They are beyond despicable to me. They’re beyond ignorant to me, and my level of anger is about go back and listen to Democrats. Every election year they want to say Republicans what? Conservatives what? That conservatives are racists. Conservatives hate women. Conservatives want old people to die. Granny over the cliff. They want young people to fend for themselves. They want to poison the air. Poison the water, so people that for right reasons saw this case as government overreach, now are like branded because of the ignorant, racist, repugnant, despicable comments of Cliven Bundy.”
The truth is that Hannity and every other conservative who supported Bundy deserves to be labeled a racist. These people championed and encouraged Bundy. Most importantly, they gave a racist a national platform from which to spout his hate.
Hannity and Beck aren’t victims. They are accomplices. Fox News, Hannity, and all of Bundy’s champions are shameless self promoters, who were encouraging an act of sedition against the United States government.
The Elite have destroyed the US, plain and simple. They never have enough. It’s not politics, It’s the rich. Kill them.
The bill of rights has turned into the rights of bills – million dollar bills.
“It’s the rich. Kill them.”
.
Ahh, it brings a history buff some warm nostalgia.
.
(And when will the wimps in the NRA expand their crusade to protect these other essential instruments for defense of the constitution and our freedom to choose, say, from among four score of brands of boxed breakfast cereal?”
.
“Dynamite! Of all the good stuff, that is the stuff! Stuff several pounds of this sublime stuff into an inch pipe (gas or water pipe), plug up both ends, insert a cap with a fuse attached, place this in the immediate vicinity of a lot of rich loafers who live by the sweat of other people’s brows, and light the fuse. A most cheerful and gratifying result will follow. In giving dynamite! To the downtrodden millions of the globe science has done its best work. The dear stuff can be carried in the pocket without danger, while it is a formidable weapon against any force of militia, police, or detectives that may want to stifle the cry for justice that goes forth from the plundered slaves. It is something not very ornamental, but exceedingly useful. It can be used against parsons and things. It is better to use it against the former than against bricks and masonry. It is a genuine boon for the disinherited, while it brings terror and fear to the robbers. A pound of this good stuff beats a bushel of ballots all hollow – and don’t you forget it! Our lawmakers might as well try to sit down on the crater of a volcano or on the point of a bayonet as to endeavor to stop the manufacture and use of dynamite. It takes more justice and right than is contained in laws to quiet the spirit of unrest.” — Johann Most (1885)
…stirs the soul, doesn’t it?
“Whoever looks at America will see: the ship is powered by stupidity, corruption, or prejudice,”
That’s a choice comment.
Republicans and Democrats, it took both to get us to where we are, not to mention We the People. For those of you in lockstep keep blaming someone or something else, that way you don’t have to look at yourself or your party.
Until we get a handle on special interest money, across the board government spending and tax reform nothing will change for the better.
I think that could be a start, good comment.
Thank you, now why don’t you tone down your rhetoric a notch or two. “It’s the rich. Kill them”, not much good can come from that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-0lAhnoDlU
Who was it who sang “Eat the Rich”?
see my reply.
Motorhead, dude!
Off topic,but I cant help comment,it’s been a whole week and no column on Thomas Ravenel.Whats happened?
He’s prolly got the clap…
Nah, he’s gotta be used to getting that by now.
Another polo match. It endears him to the common people .
That coke isn’t gonna smoke itself.
Play both sides against the middle in anything, guess what, 1 side wins, and it’s not the middle.
Its anti American against American under Obama….and Americans have lost big…while greedy liberal enlist eat like gluttons…and our children starve….
Oh, I see now, only the liberals, this is the problem. It’s all of them, we are sold as slaves, you too, Tango. Republicans can be liberal. Don’t argue please, “Use the force Luke”, politicians use us as candy. I never remember you so angry when Iraq was attacked? You were dupped as I were, along with many people in the US government and it’s citizens. To borrow the money from China to attack the wrong culprits of 911 was insane. Our country will never be the same. Even total control of of every form of government, by Republicans will never fix this wheel. Get used to it, GWB destroyed America. Have a nice day!!!
Congress approved defending againtst terrorism after Bush did the job Clinton neglected….
And we’ve had years to recover…if we had a good leader…dumb@$$…
Nah. Corporations were making too much money to let the country stabilize.
America’s “Rising, Thriving Middle Class” Is Not Rising Or Thriving
Read more at https://www.fitsnews.com/2014/04/25/americas-rising-thriving-middle-class-rising-thriving/#4jyuxqJRpTLC6FIJ.99
That’s the ticket….not enough taxation….that’s a real winner… go w that into the next 2 elections…you’re a real genius…
Kiss my ass, shithead.
I believe the way to deal with idiots like you is to ignore you, but I made an exception in this one case.
Complaining that taxes are not excessive enough, may make you one of the most ignorant MoFos on here…(and that’s saying a lot)…
When you exhibit stupidity, be prepared to deal w/ the fallout…
No, the tax burden is simply unbalanced. Middle class pays the highest percentage, and the rich pay MUCH less because of tax shelters. Shoot, corporations like GE even get money BACK.
You are a STUPID F*#k…The highest-earners pay most of the tax….About Half don’t pay….You blithering, mis-informed Idiot…
That said: My number of contracts dropped precipitously since Obama came into office (He SUCKS) and I’m now in a lower tax bracket. Even though I pay less now, I don’t think it’s RIGHT to punish people who make more…because of Dumb@$$#$ like you, who believe the myths of liberal politicians…
You so SILLY. Unlike you, I’m capable of doing research and reading for comprehension. What I say is absolute fact. I’d love to know what company you “own”. Only guy in town with Tourette’s of the keyboard.
30 plus years of deregulation, tax cuts for the rich, overboard defense spending, rising corporate subsidies, lobbyists and executives of corrupt industries being put in charge of oversight agencies, bailouts of businesses “too big to fail,” massive bribing through shredded campaign finance limits, and revolving door politics.
What will cure that?
Cut more programs for the general welfare of the working class, of course!
“We the People are waking up!” Stop the oligarchy by stomping out what little good in government is left! Yup, sounds like the
rambling a of a moronsound advice of an enlightened wise man!Government is never going to clean itself up, or allow someone outside of it to do it without a fight.
aAAaASrggggggg….b&@$h flee erg pluuuuuuuuuuuurg! Obama $&%*€ vlager
STOP F&#King impersonating me!!!! Stop it! Don’t make me get sic the Chocolate Monkey on you.
Liberal ddddgggg$&8^>#^*> flaggity floopz
The real issue is the change in our economy (bonuses for management that encourages profits taking rather than reinvestment and growth) and deregulation of so many critical components, such as the stock market. Why put profits back into a company or pay workers a wage that keeps up with price increases when you can post that money and collect larger bonuses? THIS is what is really killing the middle class, not so much taxes. It’s always easy to shift blame to government because we are conditioned to hate government. Wave the red cape of government in front of people, and they attack it blindly while the corporate matador stabs the blade in from another angle.
With your understanding of business…you would F+”k up a kool-aid stand…your analysis is ignorance in print…
I know more about it than you…. Both theory and practice.
Rep Mark Sanford and MoveOn.org fight against small business in Beaufort County. ECB would have stood with the entrepreneurs bringing jobs to northern Beaufort county. Keep electing republicans and watch America tumble.
Well if one can’t earn enough to get by, get married. If a married couple can’t earn enough to get by, marry a third. That’s right. After the Supreme Court eviscerated authentic marriage last year, “By formally declaring anyone opposed to same-sex marriage an enemy of human decency,” Scalia wrote in his dissent in United States v. Windsor, “the majority arms well every challenger to a state law restricting marriage to its traditional definition.” There’s already an organized movement, led by college professors, for what might be called “grouple” marriage. “Three homosexuals” are married and want to be recognized as a “threeple”, “throuple”, “grouple”, whatever.
More support of higher education is the answe my friends. Trust me.
blah blah blah….Obama bad…blah, blah…blah
Go to Gallup (economy tab) and look at what their numbers say about Americans confidence in the economy, about perceptions of growth, about jobs, about housing, about the stock market..the middle class is doing better.
Don’t just buy the hype from Fox and Fits….do your own research.
Obama is a flunky for the Jews.