I feel like Cassandra...

[Shodan]

@Lemmytheseal2

That’s what somebody at Brookings was trying to say, but according to the links at the beginning of the article, and the conclusions towards the end, yes, the middle class is in decline.

Actually the point of the article is that the guy from Brookings is right, but we should still panic.

Because [ul][li]Health care costs have been rising. Well, yes, they have, but the author of your article doesn’t seem to think that this counts, even though the population is aging and there are numerous advances in treatment. And[/li][li]Because housing costs are lower than they were at the peak of the last bubble. To which most reasonable people would respond “No shit, Sherlock” and hope fervently that we don’t trigger another bubble any too soon.[/li][/ul]
Regards,
Shodan

[Lemmytheseal2]

@Shodan

Actually the point of the article is that the guy from Brookings is right, but we should still panic.

Because [ul][li]Health care costs have been rising. Well, yes, they have, but the author of your article doesn’t seem to think that this counts, even though the population is aging and there are numerous advances in treatment. And[/li][li]Because housing costs are lower than they were at the peak of the last bubble. To which most reasonable people would respond “No shit, Sherlock” and hope fervently that we don’t trigger another bubble any too soon.[/li][/ul]
Regards,
Shodan

And what of all that stuff about the decline in middle-class employment, and so on?

[Shodan]

@Lemmytheseal2

And what of all that stuff about the decline in middle-class employment, and so on?

What of it? The article says middle class cash income is “stagnant”, which is a loaded word meaning “staying the same”, which is a different word from “declining”.

We are coming out of a recession caused by a crash in housing values. We are not recovering as fast as we did from the last recession caused by 9/11 and the pop of the tech bubble. The idea that therefore, the middle class is collapsing and we are all going to DIE is silly and short-sighted.

The problems of the extreme Left in the US are manifold:
[ul][li]It consists mostly of slackers, fruitcakes, and academics[/li][li]Their case for radical change is muddled and based on cherry-picked statistics[/li][li]the large majority of the US populace, especially those who vote, are middle-, upper-middle-, or upper-class, and therefore there is no support for radical change because most people are doing fine.[/ul]Average wages in the US in purchasing power is among the highest in the world. We are recovering better from the recent recession than the rest of the industrialized world. [/li]
The sky is just fine, thank you.

Regards,
Turkey Lurkey