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I thought I'd start a thread regarding the lives of Middle Class Americans - have they improved?
And, of course, "Middle Class Americans" is ill-defined; there is no universally agreed definition of what is middle-class (from an economic perspective), so that is up to the poster to define.
There has been a tremendous amount of change these past 4 years, and much of that change has been induced by the pandemic, and by technical innovation. The pandemic is behind us, and technical innovation continues to accelerate. Product quality and availability are excellent and it seems everything now has bluetooth.
Residential real estate values have gone bananas in most locations - so home owners have benefited while those who rent have seen their monthly costs escalate. (Ignore NYC with its unique rent control laws and regulations). Owners of office real estate are taking it in the shorts because of work-from-home. Prices of most all goods are very high but the data say price increases are stabilizing; prices of services are very high and continue to go higher as labor costs go up, up, up. The traditional "kitchen table discussion" of the prices of food, gasoline, natural gas, electricity, automobile prices, automobile insurance, homeowner insurance, daycare services, veterinary services -you name it - "kitchen table economics" sux right now.
So... do you think the lives of Middle Class Americans have improved?
I thought I'd start a thread regarding the lives of Middle Class Americans - have they improved?
So... do you think the lives of Middle Class Americans have improved?
No. Do you need more?
Yes there are more toys and distractions, and larger bedrooms too. Well, for many.
But the personal sense of SECURITY required to really enjoy those things just isn't there as it once was.
As in Maslow, the underlying foundation.
Most of that is about the nature of post industrial economic expansion (mostly gone)
vs labor hour competition for what remains to be had by the middle (through the roof).
Moguldreamer - you are dreaming! Analytics seem to be your thing so apply them please. Let's make it easy - go to the grocery store, pay your utilities, review vehicle/home insurance.
As a middle class family, our lives have definitely not improved. Inflation has cut into our budget significantly. We have not been saving nearly as much as we used to. House improvement projects are haulted. Eating out is no longer an option. We carry zero debt besides our mortgage (no student loans even). Daycare alone is $2,600 a month for us and that has risen with the increase in inflation. We haven't been on a vacation in 3 years.
Of course, this is my personal experience. However, I tend to read that the middle class is getting squeezed the most with inflation.
Middle class will go broke soon unless the Fed offer QE for them. It's not fair that the government can keep borrowing and having their debts wrote off and the private citizens cannot. They blame inflation without calling it war caused supply disruption inflation.
This is all the government's doing causing high inflation without giving the middle class any tax breaks or rate cuts to offset the inflation.
Once the middle class collapses they will be voting out every incumbent that was responsible and most likely Biden won't make it.
Unless the RAW NUMBER of warm bodies available are reduced to better align
with the number actually needed to produce useful needed things...
and only rather few of he whole are engaged in 'services'
It's not fair that the government can keep borrowing and having their debts wrote off and the private citizens cannot...
US Federal debt has never been written off.
Governments of some other nations have done so.
Venezuela has defaulted on its sovereign debt 11 times. Ecuador has defaulted 10 times in modern history. Brazil has defaulted 9 times over the past 200 years. Costa Rica and Uruguay have also defaulted 9 times each over the past 200 years. Italy defaulted once during World War II. Spain has defaulted 6 times. Greece has defaulted 5 times since achieving independence in the 1820s. China has defaulted twice. Russia/Soviet Union defaulted back in 1917. More recently, Russia has defaulted - but blamed financial sanctions from The West in response to the war in Ukraine. Russia has money to repay its debt, but that money is frozen in foreign banks, so they claim.
Last edited by moguldreamer; 05-01-2024 at 12:04 PM..
Absolutely not. They barely count under the 'services' heading.
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