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As with several other comments in this thread, I think your worries about are exaggerated and even wrong. The fact is that the common American has far more tha

As with several other comments in this thread, I think your worries about are exaggerated and even wrong. The fact is that the common American has far more than anyone has in the past, and even the poor aren't fairing too badly, according to the US Census as reported here [1] Your comments about vanishing upward mobility are very much debatable. There's plenty of reason to think that mobility hasn't changed. [2] Perhaps even more surprising to some, while the middle class may indeed be shrinking, statistics show that this is happening by squeezing them up toward higher incomes [3] (this doesn't contradict #2, since it's a difference in counting income ranges versus n-tile demographics) It's really not such an awful world out here. Some people just seem to want us to think so. [1] http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/16/are-there-really-40-million-poor-americans-looking-at-the-census-bureaus-definition-of-poverty/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=091815conservatives&utm_campaign=thffacebookad http://dailysignal.com/2015/09/16/are-there-really-40-millio... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/business/upward-mobility-has-not-declined-study-says.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/business/upward-mobility-h... [3] https://www.aei.org/publication/yes-the-middle-class-has-been-disappearing-but-they-havent-fallen-into-the-lower-class-theyve-risen-into-the-upper-class/ https://www.aei.org/publication/yes-the-middle-class-has-bee... EDIT : in para #1 I said "Senate" when I meant "Census"

Futurebot 11y ago
Try these, the data in the other direction is very strong: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/the-downward-ramp.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/the-downward-ramp.... http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/04/27/how-do-you-fix-the-hollowing-out-of-the-middle-class/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/04/27/how-do-yo... http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/how-the-recession-turned-middle-class-jobs-into-low-wage-jobs/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/ho... http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/the-hollowing-out-of-americas-middle-class/62330/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/the-holl... Not just a US phenomenon either. Here's a UK perspective: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000951/the-missing-middle/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000951/the-missing-midd...
- CWuestefeld 11y ago
  I'll grant that my points are in some ways controversial. But the very fact that someone can come up with a study at all that disagrees with your argument is sufficient to prove that statements like what we're seeing in this thread - "if you're not in the top 1% you're doomed to a life of drudging misery" are absurdly exaggerated. That 1% claim is hugely absolutist, so it takes only very weak evidence that broad swathes of the country are content and even happy, to disprove the chicken little argument.
  - Futurebot 11y ago
    Some of those statements might be hyperbolic to a degree, but it's really a question of degree, not the overall trends. My personal characterization was 'The choice is more between "member of various elite / professional jobs" and "Starbucks"', which I don't think is all that hyperbolic if you look at the actual "hollowing out" data from Autor, Stiglitz, et al. If you read only one link, make it this one: http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 - the study is one of the universally acknowledged and well-respected around. As far as the happiness quotient for the broad swathes, I think the polls do contradict you: http://www.pollingreport.com/right.htm http://www.pollingreport.com/right.htm Edit: here's one from the AEI, a right-learning source you linked to (Tyler Cowen, a popular right-libertarian blogger's book "Average is Over" deals with this as well. Definitely worth a read if you haven't): https://www.aei.org/publication/more-evidence-average-is-over-and-the-us-middle-class-is-thinning/ https://www.aei.org/publication/more-evidence-average-is-ove...

Futurebot 11y ago

Try these, the data in the other direction is very strong: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/the-downward-ramp.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/opinion/the-downward-ramp.... http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/04/27/how-do-you-fix-the-hollowing-out-of-the-middle-class/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/04/27/how-do-yo... http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/how-the-recession-turned-middle-class-jobs-into-low-wage-jobs/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/28/ho... http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/the-hollowing-out-of-americas-middle-class/62330/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/the-holl... Not just a US phenomenon either. Here's a UK perspective: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000951/the-missing-middle/ http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000951/the-missing-midd...

CWuestefeld 11y ago
I'll grant that my points are in some ways controversial. But the very fact that someone can come up with a study at all that disagrees with your argument is sufficient to prove that statements like what we're seeing in this thread - "if you're not in the top 1% you're doomed to a life of drudging misery" are absurdly exaggerated. That 1% claim is hugely absolutist, so it takes only very weak evidence that broad swathes of the country are content and even happy, to disprove the chicken little argument.
- Futurebot 11y ago
  Some of those statements might be hyperbolic to a degree, but it's really a question of degree, not the overall trends. My personal characterization was 'The choice is more between "member of various elite / professional jobs" and "Starbucks"', which I don't think is all that hyperbolic if you look at the actual "hollowing out" data from Autor, Stiglitz, et al. If you read only one link, make it this one: http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 http://economics.mit.edu/files/5554 - the study is one of the universally acknowledged and well-respected around. As far as the happiness quotient for the broad swathes, I think the polls do contradict you: http://www.pollingreport.com/right.htm http://www.pollingreport.com/right.htm Edit: here's one from the AEI, a right-learning source you linked to (Tyler Cowen, a popular right-libertarian blogger's book "Average is Over" deals with this as well. Definitely worth a read if you haven't): https://www.aei.org/publication/more-evidence-average-is-over-and-the-us-middle-class-is-thinning/ https://www.aei.org/publication/more-evidence-average-is-ove...