JLF: The Middle Class is Suffering
Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...
CNN had an article recently that got my brain boiling. The report talked about the congressional Joint Economic Committee chaired by the fantastic Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Two days ago, the committee heard from "experts," like a professor at Harvard Law School, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation. What was the consensus? The American middle class is suffering in this economy.Big surprise.
Two things made me mad, though, and I'll share them after we explore the experts' feedback.
According to Elizabeth Warren, professor at Harvard Law School, the median household income dropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007 (adjusted for inflation, obviously). Everyone LOVES making less money than 7 years ago, but what compounds the insanity is that the cost of living has gone up. The average family is spending $4,655 more on basic expenses every year. Well, maybe we're just getting picky! Maybe we're buying too many "basics!" What, exactly, is included in Elizabeth Warren's list of "basics?" Gas, housing, food and health insurance. Oops. Those are necessary.
First, let's get something out of the way so you mathematicians don't pounce all over this in the comments... comment pouncing has been SUCH a big problem on HAWT. Her analysis is all assumptions and averages. In order to reach that $4,655, she's made tons of assumptions, and any other cut on the data would have a different number. You know what, though? I'm going to trust her.
Break down this for us, ever-so-trusty Elizabeth Warren, so I can target my fury appropriately. Gas costs this family $2,195 more. (Again, remember those assumptions: she says this is for a family making the same commute in May 2008 as it did eight years earlier. I assume this is an "average" commute at an "average" speed with an "average" number of kids and "average" inflation of tires...)
Child care costs have shot through the roof. Families with children under 5 are now spending an additional $1,508 A MONTH. That's $18,000 a year. That number hurts my entire body, brain and soul. It gets a little easier when the children get older, with after-school costs rose $622 A MONTH. That's almost $7,500 a year. That also hurts my brain. Good thing my kids work in a factory in Guatemala.
According to Elizabeth Warren, Americans have had to slide the plastic cards to pay the bills. Right now, actually, 10% of disposable income is now going to pay off debt. That number, also, hurts all things holy. I mean, 10% of disposable income is just headed to Mastercard, Visa, Amex et al? [Good time to read this: Credit Card Companies? Get Ready For a Change.] Craziness.
"There have never been since the Depression so many families standing right on the edge," Warren said. "Families have tightened their belts. They have cut down in every discretionary spending area they possibly can."
Well, enough of that ever-so-trusty negative nancy. Let's hear what Schumer had to say. "There is a silent cry going out as middle class families gather around their dinner tables each night to talk about how to pay their ballooning bills. Middle class families are the engine of our economy, but their earning power and economic security has actually declined in the last seven years." Ouchers.
Well, turns out the other two people who addressed the committee were biased (one said the money was going from the middle class to the rich and the other said it's not that bad right now and all we need is an additional stimulus package, and we'll be ALL set. You know who I agree with, but I can't say that and call myself an honest blogger.) F it. The rich are getting richer. The stimulus package is the dumbest idea ever.
Well, now I get to point out how two things here piss me off. First, what will come of this? Nothing comes from any of these congressional committees if they aren't about steroids. (Not much even happened there.) We have a congressional hearing with Condoleezza Rice saying she had no advanced warning that Bin Laden was going to attack in the U.S., even though she was handed a handout called "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Now look at her. She's gone from National Security Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. Why does nothing come of these committees? Why was George Tenet have a Presidential Medal of Freedom? Oh, it makes me so mad.
The second thing? If the middle class is suffering, what's going on with the lower class?
Always your pleasure.
- JLF
Find me on Facebook.com, and join the HAWTaction.com Reader group. My name there is Johnny LeadFoot (they didn't allow the space).
First, let's get something out of the way so you mathematicians don't pounce all over this in the comments... comment pouncing has been SUCH a big problem on HAWT. Her analysis is all assumptions and averages. In order to reach that $4,655, she's made tons of assumptions, and any other cut on the data would have a different number. You know what, though? I'm going to trust her.
Break down this for us, ever-so-trusty Elizabeth Warren, so I can target my fury appropriately. Gas costs this family $2,195 more. (Again, remember those assumptions: she says this is for a family making the same commute in May 2008 as it did eight years earlier. I assume this is an "average" commute at an "average" speed with an "average" number of kids and "average" inflation of tires...)
Child care costs have shot through the roof. Families with children under 5 are now spending an additional $1,508 A MONTH. That's $18,000 a year. That number hurts my entire body, brain and soul. It gets a little easier when the children get older, with after-school costs rose $622 A MONTH. That's almost $7,500 a year. That also hurts my brain. Good thing my kids work in a factory in Guatemala.
According to Elizabeth Warren, Americans have had to slide the plastic cards to pay the bills. Right now, actually, 10% of disposable income is now going to pay off debt. That number, also, hurts all things holy. I mean, 10% of disposable income is just headed to Mastercard, Visa, Amex et al? [Good time to read this: Credit Card Companies? Get Ready For a Change.] Craziness.
"There have never been since the Depression so many families standing right on the edge," Warren said. "Families have tightened their belts. They have cut down in every discretionary spending area they possibly can."
Well, enough of that ever-so-trusty negative nancy. Let's hear what Schumer had to say. "There is a silent cry going out as middle class families gather around their dinner tables each night to talk about how to pay their ballooning bills. Middle class families are the engine of our economy, but their earning power and economic security has actually declined in the last seven years." Ouchers.
Well, turns out the other two people who addressed the committee were biased (one said the money was going from the middle class to the rich and the other said it's not that bad right now and all we need is an additional stimulus package, and we'll be ALL set. You know who I agree with, but I can't say that and call myself an honest blogger.) F it. The rich are getting richer. The stimulus package is the dumbest idea ever.
Well, now I get to point out how two things here piss me off. First, what will come of this? Nothing comes from any of these congressional committees if they aren't about steroids. (Not much even happened there.) We have a congressional hearing with Condoleezza Rice saying she had no advanced warning that Bin Laden was going to attack in the U.S., even though she was handed a handout called "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Now look at her. She's gone from National Security Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. Why does nothing come of these committees? Why was George Tenet have a Presidential Medal of Freedom? Oh, it makes me so mad.
The second thing? If the middle class is suffering, what's going on with the lower class?
Always your pleasure.
- JLF
Find me on Facebook.com, and join the HAWTaction.com Reader group. My name there is Johnny LeadFoot (they didn't allow the space).
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