Blog 2: The Deteration of the Middle Class in the U.S.

Anthony Elkins

Dr. Mary Leech

English 2089

February 12, 2014

The middle class in the United States has been slowly deteriorating over the course of many years. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, families were able to have one source of income, which was typically the male, while the female stayed home with the family. In today’s world, that seems to be nonexistent. Nowadays, both parents work, and some still can’t make ends meet because of high taxation, and regulations from agencies like Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, the typical middle class house hold made fifty one thousand dollars; that was the average a household was making nearly a quarter of a century ago. Why is this happening, how is it effecting our economy, and how can it be fixed are some of the many questions that several Americans are asking.

We could all give an opinion on how they could get by on one income in the 1950s and 1960s, but for my article I’m going to focus on the lower portion of the middle class, according to the census bureau. If you made 35,000 dollars a year, would you consider yourself to be middle class? According to the consumers’ confidence index, “People in the group have actually become more pessimistic since 2011, in what’s supposed to be an economic recovery. For a long time it was a cliché that much of the US working class felt ‘middle class. Now it appears that a big part of the middle class- those households in the $35,000 to $50,000 a year bracket – feels poor.”  This seems to be the growing problem in America, but why?

 

The Growing Issue

The problem is that the dollar isn’t worth as much as it was when the economy was booming, and there isn’t as many jobs as there used to be. For example, the city of Cleveland used to be a big source for steel, and there was a huge factory called LTV that employed thousands of workers. They shut down in 2001 due to bankruptcy, and thousands of workers lost their jobs and health care. Many of the workers got some sort of illness from working in harsh conditions, and were without heath care, and people that had been working towards a great pension were now without a job, and pension. A city that was once one of the main suppliers of steel was now out of commission, and many families lost everything. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/12/ltv-d27.html.  This is just one example of many that have happened in the country in the last ten years.

Another reason why the middle class is deteriorating is all the forced regulations by the government. For example, there is a mandate that all cars manufactured in the United States, as of 2015, have to be equipped with a black box. A new report form CBS says, “A recently passed bill will require all cars to come equipped with "black boxes" that record vehicle data. These Event Data Recorders (EDR), similar to their airplane counterparts, will record data such as speed, brake force and electrical systems monitoring. The days of a car crash being one driver's word against another look to be history.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-law-mandates-black-boxes-in-all-cars-by-2015/. These devices may add an additional five thousand dollars to the price of the car, and when you only make 35,000 dollars a year, that is not affordable.

Taxing

Taxation is another huge factor in the deterioration of the middle class in the United States of America. We are taxed for just about everything. Every bill that you receive for the month has a small percentage that is taken out by the infamous Uncle Sam. For example, your cell phone bill. When you read everything that is being added up to make your bill, you’ll see that about three dollars and twenty-five cents is taken out every month from the government. That money goes to pay for the Obama phones that people who can’t afford cell phones get for free. I think that it is absolutely absurd that the government even offers free cell phones to people, it is not a basic necessity it’s a privilege. Paying for student loans is another aspect that completely cripples the middle class. With the shortage of jobs, when the students graduate, and aren’t able to find jobs, they aren’t going to be able to pay their bills.

The Bare Minimum

The typical American has many bills to pay every month. Just to name a few, a mortgage payment, car payment, car insurance, household utilities, cell phone, groceries, student loans, credit card, pet grooming, etc. Just for an example, the living wage calculator says that in Cuyahoga County, OH if there is two adults and one child, you have to make 33,831 dollars before taxes to be able to afford the basic necessities of life. http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/39035 That is under what is considered to be middle class in the US, and under the average family size as well. This is before all the taxes that get taken out of their total income at the end of the year, and those numbers are high as well. Also, because of the shortage of jobs, most of what used to be middle class are now working at jobs that only pay minimum wage, or within a few dollars of it. 

 

Wrapping It Up 

So when you get down to the brass tacks of this, if you make upwards to 50,000 dollars, there is little money left for you to spend on something fun with the family; but if you make anywhere under 40,000, you won’t even have enough money to pay your bills, and a vacation is something that of a dream to you, and your family. Many people are asking what there is to do about this, but honestly there isn’t just one solution. Many things need to change in order for everything to go back to the way that it used to be; but as for right now, I guess we just need to tighten our belts and hold on for the ride.