American middle class slowly disappearing under mounds of debt – How Wall Street

[wildcard]

http://www.mybudget360.com/

American middle class slowly disappearing under mounds of debt – How Wall Street and government sucked working and middle class Americans into perpetual debt serfdom.

People quickly forget about the nearly 1,000 point “flash crash” brought on by glitches in the Wall Street casino machinery. Still no sensible explanation has been given but today the stock market now stands below the flash crash moment. The middle class is witnessing the largest wealth transfer in history take place and it is all happening because of the Wall Street infrastructure and the government’s lack of respect for the working class of the United States. Even last month as we lost 125,000 workers the unemployment rate actually went down because over 500,000 Americans simply dropped out of the workforce. In other words people simply threw their hands up in exhaustion and gave up. The government is literally not counting tens of thousands of Americans. What does this tell you about how much they value the middle class?

... continues at link with lots of skeery charts.

http://www.mybudget360.com/

[Grand Master Melon]

I don't buy the "glitch" theory, it happened as it should have and what was BS was the way the NYSE and NASDAQ reversed some of the trades.

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

The middle class is not disappearing. It is gone.

Induced into sustaining standards of living via debt. The demise was inevitable at the turn of the century.

If half the households bring in less than $50k and most of that is used to service debt, how can that be considered middle class? It is debt slavery.

I continue to be amazed how people refuse to live within their means.

[madfranks]

Even last month as we lost 125,000 workers the unemployment rate actually went down because over 500,000 Americans simply dropped out of the workforce. In other words people simply threw their hands up in exhaustion and gave up.

No, no, no. In other words, the gov't stopped counting them because it makes them look bad.

[Skirnir]

No debt to speak of...and it is staying that way.

[Ash_Williams]

The middle class is not disappearing. It is gone.

Induced into sustaining standards of living via debt. The demise was inevitable at the turn of the century.

If half the households bring in less than $50k and most of that is used to service debt, how can that be considered middle class? It is debt slavery.

I continue to be amazed how people refuse to live within their means.

It's really silly. The middle class are turning themselves into the lower class because they think they need to live like the upper class. The kind of house a 60k/year worker attempts to buy now is one that would have been thought of as a mansion only 15 years ago, reserved for millionaires with maids.

Remember when being middle class meant you had an ok car with a rust spot or two, two of the kids shared a room, and you could survive with just one bathroom, one 20" tv, some cloth couches, and a regular fridge and stove?

Now it's like people are embarrassed if they're house isn't giant with every room perfectly painted and decorated and cleaned, the lawn trimmed and weed-free with the nice flower garden, the leased imported SUVs in the garage, the deck out back, the enormous stainless steel BBQ, the three leather couches surrounding the 40" flatscreen TV hooked to digital cable (which is also hooked to the TV's in the kids room, the den, the basement, and the bedroom), the stainless steel fridge with icemaker and matching smoothtop stove and dishwasher and range hood.

The middle class has decided it needs the excess of the rich without a plan to pay for it. The way these people are living is starting to match the satire of the suburbs. It's very inhuman and robotic. Did anyone grow up in a place that was always perfect? My family was middle class and the house was considered nice but my carpets still had stains on them, the walls had some dings, and no one ever spoke up "upgrading" the appliances - we just got new ones when the old ones wore out. The lawn had some dry patches and the cars were older and burned/leaked oil but that was ok back then. The house isn't for living in now, the yard's not for playing in, and the cars aren't for driving - they only exist to look nice.

So what is the middle class anyway? Well the people that live like we did a couple decades ago appear more like the lower class now. Should be interesting when it's time for them to retire...

[Book]

http://www.visualstatistics.net/East-West/Mayerling%20Tragedy/Unborn%20baby.jpg

Middle-class future taxpayer Timmy White already owes $125,000 on the National Debt.

:oo-->

[philo beddoe]

The middle class is not disappearing. It is gone.

Induced into sustaining standards of living via debt. The demise was inevitable at the turn of the century.

If half the households bring in less than $50k and most of that is used to service debt, how can that be considered middle class? It is debt slavery.

I continue to be amazed how people refuse to live within their means.



Remember when being middle class meant you had an ok car with a rust spot or two, two of the kids shared a room, and you could survive with just one bathroom, one 20" tv, some cloth couches, and a regular fridge and stove?
.
I really believ that describes working class, not middle class. At best, that is lower middle class.

[wildcard]

Most of the wealth has been stolen through inflation. Not because people are being over the top extravagant (even though some do). Some folks are borrowing just to stay afloat at this point.

Both parents are working and can't keep up with a single breadwinner from the past. And housing is built in cookie cutter fashion, not by custom order. McMansions are marketed and loans are made. It's not an accident.

[I am me, I am free]

No debt to speak of...and it is staying that way.


So...you don't use FRNs?? Please elaborate.

[wildcard]

;D

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01401/ThinkQuestFiles/barter.gif

http://happyvalleynews.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/barter-3001.jpg

*I would love to see someone walk into a Target store or wherever and try to trade for some goods and videotape it. That would be awesome. I got these 3 chickens and I want this coffeemaker.

[silver_surfer]

http://www.mybudget360.com/

American middle class slowly disappearing under mounds of debt –

To many Americans competing with the Jone's

[Saul Mine]

The middle class is not disappearing. It is gone.

Induced into sustaining standards of living via debt. The demise was inevitable at the turn of the century.

If half the households bring in less than $50k and most of that is used to service debt, how can that be considered middle class? It is debt slavery.

I continue to be amazed how people refuse to live within their means.



Remember when being middle class meant you had an ok car with a rust spot or two, two of the kids shared a room, and you could survive with just one bathroom, one 20" tv, some cloth couches, and a regular fridge and stove?
.
I really believ that describes working class, not middle class. At best, that is lower middle class.


In the USA there are no classes. Furthermore everybody is in the middle class.

[Skirnir]

No debt to speak of...and it is staying that way.


So...you don't use FRNs?? Please elaborate.


Debt in the context of owing anything be it paper or metal. I use FRNs for transactions but all savings are in Au or Ag. Yes, it is known that FRNs are themselves debt, but that is ancillary for my purposes.

[madfranks]

Most of the wealth has been stolen through inflation. Not because people are being over the top extravagant (even though some do). Some folks are borrowing just to stay afloat at this point.

Both parents are working and can't keep up with a single breadwinner from the past. And housing is built in cookie cutter fashion, not by custom order. McMansions are marketed and loans are made. It's not an accident.


You are absolutely right. My boss is an old timer who is about to retire. In the course of conversation one day I asked him what his starting wage was when he started working back in the early 60's. He told me he made $2.25 an hour and laughed that that's not very much. I told him to the contrary that's a lot of money because it was in silver. $2.25 in face value 90% silver coinage is approx. 1.6 oz of silver, which in today's dollars equals a wage of about $29/hr. Just for reference a starting wage for this type of work nowadays is about $12-14/hr, less than half of the equivalent 50 years ago. Inflation is eating away the middle class, exactly by design.

[Book]

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/60scars.html

Auto prices in the 60's.

:o

[philo beddoe]

The middle class is not disappearing. It is gone.

Induced into sustaining standards of living via debt. The demise was inevitable at the turn of the century.

If half the households bring in less than $50k and most of that is used to service debt, how can that be considered middle class? It is debt slavery.

I continue to be amazed how people refuse to live within their means.



Remember when being middle class meant you had an ok car with a rust spot or two, two of the kids shared a room, and you could survive with just one bathroom, one 20" tv, some cloth couches, and a regular fridge and stove?
.
I really believ that describes working class, not middle class. At best, that is lower middle class.


In the USA there are no classes. Furthermore everybody is in the middle class.
Thats what they tell you, but there are. They are just not as crystallized as other countries.

[Ponce]

Many insist on living like yesterday with the money of today.......me, in the other hand, was using the money of yesterday to get ready for what will happen tomorrow.

But for an open invasion of my property by ten or more armed individuals (which will happen) I'll have it made till the day that I buy the farm...........uffffffffffffff I forgot, that didn't work.

[Twisted Titan]

Even last month as we lost 125,000 workers the unemployment rate actually went down because over 500,000 Americans simply dropped out of the workforce. In other words people simply threw their hands up in exhaustion and gave up.

No, no, no. In other words, the gov't stopped counting them because it makes them look bad.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulu3SCAmeBA