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Well, look, I don't know what goes on in Omaha, but up here I see a lot of hard working people lose their jobs and move to part time jobs, lose their pensions, lose their health care etc. I am not even talking about the recent recession. Even through the previous booms, we have seen declined or frozen wages or increases at or below inflation, elimination of pensions, increase in health care deductibles or lose benefits etc. None of these people fit into your two categories.
There are ALWAYS ups and downs. There are ALWAYS people who are losing jobs, for any number of reasons.
In addition, this claim that "wages have frozen" is not honest or accurate. I have no idea how many school teachers I've heard complain about how they "haven't gotten a raise in 10 years." And that is partially true. But the whole truth is that they have automatic cost-of-living increases built into their contracts.
Again, America is STILL the land of opportunity. That is evidenced by the fact that more people immigrate to America every year than to every other country in the world, combined.
Actually, everything does NOT require an education now. Success has NEVER been contingent on a college degree.
In fact, more and more employers are realizing that more and more college graduates are practically illiterate, spoiled and lazy. All they did for 4 years in college is "party".
A college degree does NOT make a person smart.
I didn't say it makes a person smart., but if you look at the upper middle and upper class, the proportion of people by and large have 4 year degrees.
I didn't say anything about intelligence and superiority. I'm talking about financial success. I don't equate financial success with intelligence, strictly.
I don't know how valid these sources are, but they give you the idea:
So what? When you grow up in a $500,000 home, with parents who drive a new pickup and new minivan, what room is there to go "up"?
The reason inter-generational upward mobility was so great from 1950 to 1980 is because Americans were working their way up from virtually nothing.
Your link does NOT show anything about income disparity, or what effect it has on people.
You misunderstand what this means. This means those on the top tend to stay on the top and those on the bottom tend to stay on the bottom. It means those in a $500,000 home are likely to have the next generation in a similar situation. Those in a $60,000 home are likely to have children in the same situation as well. As opposed to a larger flux in families financial status.
I don't want this discussion to devolve into arguments about what people think or don't think is socialism or about Obama. I would simply like to focus on what effects such disparities will have on the preservation of the middle class which I believe is vital to maintain the vibrancy of not only the economy but our civilc well being something that I think is a concern for both liberals and conservatives.
"Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez. The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes."
It's Obama's fault. If he hadn't of scared me into buying all those guns and bullets I would have been a lot richer now.
And what is the conclusion you want to draw from all these assumptions?
You already posited the false notion that America is no longer a land of opportunity. Unfortunately for your negative view, thousands upon thousands of immigrants are coming to America and succeeding greatly EVERY year.
So how can that be?
Once again, these immigrants are educated.
The US still is a land of opportunity. That does not mean it hasn't fluctuated in the amount that it is so. It is an issue to address. In order to keep our edge we will eventually be required to either keep attracting the most educated immigrants in the world, or educate our own population.
Alas, I digress.
Seeing how expensive it is to remain in the middle class...i'd say we are definately diminishing in being the land of opportunity. My grandfather was middle/upper middle class. My dad, subsequently, had barely any student loans. Fast forward, I graduated with 50k in debt and barely making ends meet with an income of 35k a year. This is the same salary my coworker was making when she got out of college...in the late 1980s. I want to go back to grad school.
Rents are high, gas prices (while lower than in past years) are still relatively high...
My brother, making 6 figures, lives paycheck to paycheck. But, to be fair, we do live in Southern California. However, as California goes...so does the nation. We will see that the definition of middle class will shift.
And one of the very basic, fundamental facts that you seem to be missing (I'm guessing that you may be very young) is the fact that in the last 25 years we've had an explosion of extremely highly-paid professional athletes and entertainers - numbers and money that have grown exponentially. Never before have there been so many people paid so much for so little.
This has done nothing to the average American. But what it has done is increase the "top end" and make it look like something it is not.
It's hard, because I actually in part agree with you. I do think that many people feel entitled. But we also have to be careful, because all of us do.
Many of us feel entitled to afford a car. The fact is, its impossible for everyone in the world to own a car, so how could we expect that our society owes us one, despite that in 90% of the US you almost need one to survive as a family? (I actually see the car as the most regressive tax in the US). We also feel entitled to be able to afford as many kids as we can pop out.
But back to a more familiar level with you, Omaha, things such as computers, air-conditioning, etc.. are part of what we consider basic middle-class life. Spoiled is right. However, the lazy part is a bit of a myth. Or at least an over-generalization. Americans shun dangerous or dirty jobs now. But they also work long hours and are very productive in the jobs they have.
And back to your point, indeed there are more high wages because of a larger proportion of educated professionals (rich athletes and entertainers are a pretty small proportion of the top 5, 10, or 25% which make up the upper and upper-middle classes). While this isn't necessarily bad, it contributes to a wider income level. And despite what some wish to believe, what others make is relative to the rest of the population. The economic structure of a society impacts each and every one of us. Increase inequality results in increased crime and social and democratic instability: Wealth inequality and dynamic stability Crime and Punishment: Some Costs of Inequality - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com
In addition, there are myths that the social and economic structure of the US is purely from individuals. Factors such the GI Bill and government institutions (mainly departments of defense and universities) are what have given us a stable middle class: Online NewsHour: Tthe GI Bill's Legacy -- July 4, 2000
I don't want this discussion to devolve into arguments about what people think or don't think is socialism or about Obama. I would simply like to focus on what effects such disparities will have on the preservation of the middle class which I believe is vital to maintain the vibrancy of not only the economy but our civilc well being something that I think is a concern for both liberals and conservatives.
"Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen during the Great Depression, according to a recently updated paper by University of California, Berkeley Professor Emmanuel Saez. The paper, which covers data through 2007, points to a staggering, unprecedented disparity in American incomes."
What is that graph saying?
6% of the population shares in 0.01% of the nation's wealth?
Is that a great disparity?
I don't know. However, the graph also shows that whatever it is saying, it comes in spurts.
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