I'm worried about this so called “war on the middle class.” It doesn't surprise me, Bush likes to wage war on any and everything: terror, Iraq, drugs, so why not the middle class? Though I don't like making light of the word war, by using it to describe attacks on inanimate objects and ideas, I do agree that something is going on in our society, in which our middle class is slowly slipping away.
Our idea of middle class has certainly changed. Last generation, a middle class family was made and sustained on one income. Now however, it takes more work, by both adults, to sustain a similar lifestyle. I say similar because, there are several minor changes. On the outside, the families look the same. But examining more closely, we learned that this generation's family is working longer hours, for less wages, while life expenses are invariably higher.
Sixty years after the 40 hour work week was established, middle classers are working more than 50 hours a week just to make ends meet. One of the reasons middle classers are working harder is because they are making less money. Adjusted for inflation the average male makes less then he did a generation ago. Of course this only applies to the middle class worker, the average fortune 500 CEO's income has increased since last generation. A CEO now makes several HUNDRED times more than the average worker.
This lack of compensation for services rendered may also be the reason more women are entering the work force. While we can't totally discount the women's lib movement, many women are entering the work force because their families need the money. This not only has consequences for her kids, but also for the family as a whole. Since it now takes two incomes for a family to make ends meet, if one adult loses his or her job, the family can suffer drastically.
It is not out of the realm of possibility that one adult can lose their job. Unemployment rates are the highest they've been in nine years. The technology boom and outsourcing of jobs to lower wage countries, has left a looming fear of lay-offs among the American middle class worker. Because of technology, companies can do more work with fewer workers. Thanks to our globalized economy many hardworking Americans, are losing their jobs, and many hardworking internationals are being unfairly exploited. It's a lose-lose for the workers and a win-win for Big Business. Millions of jobs have already been shipped overseas, and according to Forrester Research, Inc., 3.3 million more jobs will be lost by 2015.
The increased cost of living doesn't help our middle class family in the least. The cost of living is drastically out pacing the increase in wages. Because two parents are now working, they have to worry about child care along with other expenses. We all know the cost of gas has increased, which has affected the families transportation and utility budgets. Also the cost of health care is steadily increasing, up 7.7 percent just last year, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. So if you are a middle class worker lucky enough to have health insurance, currently 47 million Americans don't, you are paying more this year than last year for health care, and you will continue to pay more every year unless something is done. Not only are middle class workers paying more than they did last year, they are paying more than any worker in other industrialized country around the world.
Another cost factor is that of housing. According to the US Census Bureau, the average mortgage payment has increased almost $300 in the past ten years. According to HUD, people should only be spending about 30 percent of their income on housing. However, due to the high costs of mortgages and the low amounts of wages, 80 percent of middle classers are spending about 50 percent of their income on just housing.
These high living costs and low wages, are bankrupting families, quite literally. According to a 2003 Harvard study, 92 percent of bankruptcies were filed by middle class families. While some of these bankruptcies are due to credit card debt, many are due to rising health care as well.
The middle class has several factors working against their way of life, and few trying to help them. Today, the rich are getting richer, but it's not only the poor getting poorer. The middle class of this country is slowly slipping away as well. This country needs a different direction; we need to start caring about our citizens. If not the American way of life, could go from a dream to a distance memory.
