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Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
Keywords:
Census Bureau statistic on income of a typical American household in 1988 and in 2013 - roughly $51,017
09/18/2013
Inflation in college tution, food, housing and especially medical costs has surged since 1988 and a dollar buys much less in 2013. Average Americans could be considered much better off during the early postwar years in the sixties and seventies than today even though technological progress has made more and newer goods accessible.
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
College Tuition Increases Slow, but Government Aid Falls
Wall Street Journal 10/23/2013
Fragility of social cohesion in the U.S. with unemployment concentrated in the lower middle and working classes.
03/11/2009
Figures from the Center of Labor Market Studies of Northeastern University in Boston showing unemployment of 9% in the $40,000 to $50,000 annual household income group and going up to 31% at the lowest income group. Higher inequality as differences in education between lower income and higher income Americans grows. The problem of the long term unemployed is a serious one.
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Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale
New York Times 06/09/2013
New York Times 06/22/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
The Great Stagnation in American Education
New York Times 09/07/2013
Governor Jerry Brown's effort to revive California's higher education UC and Cal State systems as gateways to the middle class
03/11/2009
As part of this effort Brown makes half of the aid to universities contingent on a tution freeze, pushes for lower executive pay, more online courses, and faculty teaching more undergraduate classes. Under his father Governor Edmund Brown, the state's higher education system functioned in the 1960's and subsequent decades as a gateway to the U.S. middle class, and a beacon for other American states.
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California’s New Problem: Too Much Money
New York Times 05/25/2013
Brown Set for Victory in California Budget Fight
Wall Street Journal 06/12/2013
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
Brown Cheered in Second Act, at Least So Far
New York Times 08/16/2013
Masterâs Degree Is New Frontier of Study Online
New York Times 08/17/2013
The Great Stagnation in American Education
New York Times 09/07/2013
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Grouped Articles
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
New York Times 12/15/2013
Janet Yellen Warns of Inequality Threat
New York Times 10/17/2014
Bad Stock-Market Timing Fueled Wealth Disparity
Wall Street Journal 10/27/2014
In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class Pitch
Wall Street Journal 01/21/2015
Jerry Muller on Capitalism and Inequality- preserving economic dynamism and maintaining protections for the middle class and the poor
04/15/2009
Muller points out that the family really matters and belonging to particular social, immigrant, ethnic and religious groups also makes a difference. Muller says having a clear eyed view shows protections are necessary for capitalism to work, yet also points out that in advanced capitalist societies muc of the framework for the protections such as unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Earned Income Credit, Affordable Care Act, are already in place. Individual societies and countries have to come up with their own solutions for economic protections. At the same time economic dynamism is critical part of vibrant democracy and capitalism. This requires human capital to be deployed in the best way possible. For individual countries this means increasing and preserving competitiveness in the global marketplace.
Grouped Articles
New York Times 06/22/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 09/12/2013
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
Germany's Social Democrats Agree to Coalition Talks With Merkel
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2013
Krugman on student financial aid in the U.S. and the lack of education mobility for the middle class
01/28/2009
Grouped Articles
Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale
New York Times 06/09/2013
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
The Great Stagnation in American Education
New York Times 09/07/2013
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
College Tuition Increases Slow, but Government Aid Falls
Wall Street Journal 10/23/2013
Upward Mobility Has Not Declined, Study Says
New York Times 01/23/2014
Tackling middle class poverty in the U.S.- causes and strategies
03/11/2009
Shrinking incomes, low job growth, growth in temporary jobs, offshoring of jobs, are part of a trend since 1989. This is compounded by acceleration of developments during the last decade of low savings and paltry return on savings, effects on net worth of the financial crisis of 2008 through job losses, lost income, foreclosures, high cost of health care and college tution for children. The combination is creating a new kind of middle class poverty in the U.S. The Obama administration has pushed for college education even as it is becoming less affordable and neglected jobs training. The push to raise the minimum wage helps the poor but does not do as much for the middle class.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale
New York Times 06/09/2013
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
8 States to Raise Minimum Wage
New York Times 12/23/2011
U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013
New York Times 02/10/2010
The view that the burden of U.S. deficit reduction is falling on the elderly, the poor and the middle class
01/20/2010
Bernie Sanders and other leaders who see this as a problem with the plans for U.S. deficit reduction that are under discussion.
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Low Interest Rates Are Squeezing Seniors
Wall Street Journal 03/30/2010
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
State of the Union: Obama Seeks to Narrow Income Gap
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014
Bernie Sanders’s Revolutionary Roots Were Nurtured in ’60s Vermont
New York Times 07/03/2015
Similarities Aside, Bernie Sanders Isn’t Rerunning Howard Dean’s 2004 Race
New York Times 08/09/2015
Livin’ Bernie Sanders’s Danish Dream
New York Times 02/12/2016
A disappearing U.S. middle class in 2012-2015
01/20/2010
Meyerson, Ignatius and others ask the tough questions about America and the prospects for a future with a disappearing middle class, pointing to the need to structure globalization and build cooperation between workers, management and the government in new constructive ways.
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
State of the Union: Obama Seeks to Narrow Income Gap
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014
More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs
Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014
New York Times 02/08/2012
Falling Wages at Factories Squeeze the Middle Class
New York Times 11/20/2014
Washington Post 11/22/2014
Democrats making the case for vetoing all Bush era tax cuts to preserve middle class spending programs
08/05/2010
Democrats making the case for president Obama to veto all Bush era tax cuts to generate enough revenues for preserving spending programs that help the middle class and the poor. This is part of the debate in Dec. 2012 in the U.S. fiscal cliff negotiations. The opposition to this comes from other Democrats citing rising inequality.
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
The Wisdom and Folly of the Bush Tax Cuts
BusinessWeek 08/05/2010
New York Times 10/31/2010
Middle Class Malaise Complicates Democratsâ Fiscal Stance
New York Times 12/12/2012
Forget the Warnings: Letâs Drive Over the Fiscal Cliff!
New York Times 12/17/2012
Boehner Tax Plan in House Is Pulled, Lacking Votes
New York Times 12/20/2012
Increasing disparity in incomes, higher inequality and the middle class.
01/03/2010
The situation in the US, Germany, Britain, China, India, Brazil and other countries.
Grouped Articles
Survey in China Shows a Wide Gap in Income
New York Times 07/19/2013
New York Times 09/12/2013
German elections pit Merkel, challenger over poverty problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/17/2013
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
Europe's Easy-Money Policy Snubs German Savers
Wall Street Journal 11/25/2013
Germany's Social Democrats Agree to Coalition Talks With Merkel
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2013
Increasing U.S. taxes on the middle class
04/12/2009
The Wall Street Journal points to the facts that Warren Buffett does not cover in his plea for higher taxes on billionaires like himself who paid only 17% in taxes in 2010. Buffett made most of his income in capital gains and dividends that are taxed at 15%. That income was already taxed at 35% as corporate income and the 15% on top of that brings the total tax to about 45%. Buffett could write the IRS a check or support taking away the deduction for charitable contributions which is how Buffett contributes to his foundations. For most of the middle class couples making $250,000 for a few years of their life- and much of it going to high university tution payments for kids- the higher taxes make a difference compared to the Buffetts of the world. This is part of the debate on taxes in the U.S. at the time of the fiscal cliff negotiations in Dec. 2012.
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
New York Times 04/12/2009
Wall Street Journal 08/17/2011
Wall Street Journal 08/17/2011
A Disciplined and Driven 'Connect-the-Dots' Investor
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
James Galbraith on the U.S. economy in 2010-2012
01/15/2011
The University of Texas professor on the American middle class, the supercommittee on deficit reduction and the minimum wage.
Grouped Articles
California Set to Raise State Minimum Wage
Wall Street Journal 09/13/2013
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
New York Times 12/01/2013
Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones
New York Times 04/27/2014
Hiring Booms, but Soft Wages Linger
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2015
Tom Keene Talks to James K. Galbraith
BusinessWeek 11/23/2011
Lower cost higher education for the struggling American middle class
01/26/2013
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class Pitch
Wall Street Journal 01/21/2015
Revolution Hits the Universities
New York Times 01/26/2013
The New York Times 08/12/2016
The shrinking U.S. middle class and what this may mean for consumption in the years ahead.
02/26/2008
If only 1.9 million hourly workers earned more than $20 per hour in April 2008, when the deep downturn that hit in October 2008 had not ocurred and the shift to part time employment and lower auto related wages was just underway, what would the numbers look like by 2010? And what does that mean for consumption? Does it prolong the downturn with demand slow to pick up? What does it mean for exports from China?
Grouped Articles
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
State of the Union: Obama Seeks to Narrow Income Gap
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014
More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs
Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014
Falling Wages at Factories Squeeze the Middle Class
New York Times 11/20/2014
Washington Post 11/22/2014
U.A.W. Contract With Fiat Chrysler Would Give 2nd-Tier Workers Big Raise
New York Times 09/18/2015
U.S. Federal Reserve report on the drop in incomes and net worth of American families between 2007-2010
01/02/2009
The Fed documents the impact of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 on American families. Half the middle class is dislocated financially by the crisis and minorites fare badly. Median incomes drop 8% and housing asset values drop an average of 42%. Median net worth down 39% taking it back to where it was in 1992. American families work down their debt, reducing credit card balances.
Grouped Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/06/2011
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
Wall Street Journal 09/17/2010
More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs
Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014
Wall Street Journal 04/04/2009
America's middle class falling behind with typical household income at the same level after 25 years
09/14/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011
Americaâs Sinking Middle Class
New York Times 09/18/2013
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