Middle Class

The Middle-Class Solution: GET OUT!

Grant Cardone | Posted 06.01.2012

Read More: Inflation, Mitt Romney, Middle Class, Income Disparity, Finances, Personal Finances, Middle Class Economy, Money News

People in the middle class must understand that it is no longer the safe haven of inspiration it was for their parents. Particularly, its lower and middle bands do not make enough money to save enough to create financial security.

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The Disaffected Class

Lance Simmens | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Disaffected Class, 2012 Election, Middle Class, Romney Election 2012, Obama Romney 2012, Obama Election 2012, Presidential Qualifications, Presidential Requirements, Politics News

Certain people are not cut out for certain jobs. Given the requirements of the position of president of the United States, maximizing opportunities takes precedence over maximizing profits.

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Letter From a 'Nouveau Pauvre'

Elizabeth Boleman-Herring | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Yoga, Robert Frost, Poverty, New Jersey, Greek Debt Crisis, Poetry, Middle Class, Austerity, Culture News

Until very recently, I was one of the unemployed-no-longer-looking-for-work, but I have changed that status. I apply for positions here and there: positions that might earn me a little gas money, but certainly not pay my health insurance.

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One Million Should Not Become the New $250K!

Jared Bernstein | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Taxes, John Boehner, Budget, Middle Class, Nancy Pelosi, Bush Tax Cuts, Politics News

Nancy Pelosi just moved the $250K tax threshold up to $1 million. That is, she wrote: "Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire..." That is a very big, very bad deal.

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The Poor

Richard Abrons | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Poverty, Food Stamps, US Census Bureau, Census-Poverty, US Poverty, Middle Class, Census Poverty, Santorum-Gingrich-Obama-Food-Stamp, Census-Poverty-Data, Politics News

We hear constantly... Oh, it is dinned into our ears... what our two major political parties are going to do for the middle class. The middle class, t...

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Why I'm Glad I Was Swindled

Amy Reading | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Con Schemes, Con, Con Artist, Fraud, Swindle, Confidence Artist, Con Artists, Con Men, Middle Class, Confidence Artists, Scammers, Scams, Money News

The con that ensnared me was a mundane one, which made it all the more undetectable. It wasn't an ungrammatical email promising fantastic riches, but a perfectly ordinary financial transaction with two very nice people.

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Why Mitt Romney Hates Unions

Dave Johnson | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Mitt Romney, Democracy, Labor, Unions, Middle Class, Video, Business News

Is this guy a Presidential candidate from a major party, or a fringe nut? He sounds like Rush Limbaugh. HuffPost: "Mitt Romney: Obama 'Takes Marchi...

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Apple's Attack on the Knowledge Economy

Christopher Newfield | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Apple, Knowledge Economy, Public Universities, Middle Class, Innovation, Corporate Taxes, De Anza College, Tax Cuts. Community College, Tax Avoidance, Community Colleges, Business News

Cuts to places like De Anza destroy mass access to a knowledge economy that is led by Apple. Corporate tax avoidance has for decades been a major mechanism of crumbling the social bridging performed by higher ed.

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A Major Career Woman? Rethinking Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Sarah Damaske | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Working Women, Paycheck Fairness Act, Working Class, Middle Class, Women in the Workforce, Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Gender Wage Gap, Business News

If we want Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day to benefit all of our children, additional focus must be placed on girls growing up in working-class families. These girls are the ones who might benefit most.

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Poor Americans More And More Likely To Stay That Way

The Huffington Post | Alexander Eichler | Posted 04.27.2012

Read More: The Poor, Video, Economic Opportunity, Poverty, Income Inequality, Low-Income, Middle Class, Financial Mobility, Class Mobility, Low Income Families, Class, Economic Mobility, Working Class, Business News

It's getting harder for poor Americans to lift themselves up. Don't believe it? The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has some pretty compelling evide...

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Romney's Big Lie

Robert L. Borosage | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Mitt Romney, 1%, Inequality, New Hampshire Primary, Pennsylvania Primary, Income Inequality, 2012 Election, Mitt Romney 2012, Middle Class, Elections 2012, Politics News

Mitt Romney opened the general election campaign last night in Manchester, New Hampshire, using his acceptance speech to unleash a fierce attack on Barack Obama's "false promises and failed leadership." He said little about his own policies, preferring to contrast his free enterprise vision with what he called Obama's government-centered vision. After the absurd charge that under Obama, we will have "effectively ceased to be a free enterprise economy," Romney made his defense of privilege: "Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty." What world is he living in?

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Charity Study: Most People Think OTHERS Should Give More

Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Ron Sellers, Giving to Charity, Charity, Middle Class, Donating to Charity, Survey, Grey Matter Research, Arizona, Donations, Giving, Video, Impact News

By Mark Hrywna, The NonProfit Times Just how much money does someone need to earn each year to be considered one of “those people who have a lot ...

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Preserving Social Security

Sen. Tom Harkin | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Social Security, Rebuild America Act, Social Security Trust Fund, Retirement Planning, Retirement, Middle Class, Politics News

Social Security is the most successful program in our nation's history. It is not in crisis. With sensible steps, like those in my legislation, we can make the program stronger and ensure greater financial security in retirement for generations to come.

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Why a Fair Economy Is Not Incompatible With Growth But Essential to It

Robert Reich | Posted 04.16.2012

Read More: Obama Buffet Tax, Bush Tax Cuts, Middle Class, Tax Cuts, Republicans Tax, Barack Obama Taxes, Economic Growth, Obama Tax Cuts, Buffett Rule, Business News

What we should have learned over the last half century is that growth doesn't trickle down from the top. It percolates upward from working people who are adequately educated, healthy, sufficiently rewarded, and who feel they have a fair chance to make it in America.

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Patrick McHenry Owes Scott Brown a Big Apology

Mike Lux | Posted 04.13.2012

Read More: 2012 Senate Races, Scott Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Patrick McHenry, Massachusetts Senate Race, Middle Class, Scott Brown Elizabeth Warren, Politics News

Rep. Patrick McHenry wanted Elizabeth Warren to not be head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He got his wish. But now Massachusetts has a fearsome Senate candidate who has Republican Sen. Scott Brown very nervous.

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The Republican Path to National Failure

Hoyt Hilsman | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: Super Pac, Social Security, Global Economy, Wealthy, Middle Class, Presidential Election, Romney, Mitt Romney, Immigration, Obama, Rich, Citizens United, Tax Reform, Democrats, Santorum, Barack Obama, Gingrich, Education, Tax Cuts, Financial Crisis, Poor, Medicare, Republicans, Health Care, Income Inequality, Inequality, Campaign Contributions, Wealth Inequality, Politics News

From immigration to health care and education reform, the Republicans are arguing for restricting access not only to the poor, but chiefly to the middle class. At the same time, they are arguing for a greater concentration of wealth among the elites.

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Is Marriage a Poverty-Buster?

Jodie Levin-Epstein | Posted 04.10.2012

Read More: Marriage, Poverty, Lower Class, High School Graduation, Job Stability, Income Inequality, Middle Class, Politics News

Marriage, graduation, and working are all great goals shared by many across the political spectrum. But this view scrambles together the data on good outcomes with the idea that gumption can move anyone into a higher-income cohort.

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Corporations Plan for Post-Middle-Class America

Bernard Starr | Posted 04.06.2012

Read More: Corporate Profits, Middle Class, Corporations, Green Products, Middle Class America, Depleting Middle Class, Corporate America, Business News

American business has eliminated untold numbers of other middle class jobs. That's why the employment and housing markets are struggling, food stamp use is at an all-time high and the ranks of the working poor are swelling, while corporate profits soar.

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Why Women Know They Can Count on Obama

BJ Gallagher | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Strong Women, Girls, Women's Rights, Women, Michelle Obama, Dr. Pat Allen, Women's Health, Reproductive Rights, Middle Class, Marian Robinson, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Planned Parenthood, Malia and Sasha Obama, Politics News

These are but a handful of reasons why Obama is the right man for the job of president. Obama takes good care of his women, his children, and his animals. He is a man of character -- he is a real mensch. Women can trust him... and men can trust him, too.

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The Myth of the Myth of the Disappearing Middle Class

Jared Bernstein | Posted 05.30.2012

Read More: U.S. Economy, Middle Class Economy, Economics, Economy, Middle Class, Taxes, Jobs, Unemployment, Health Care, Money News

"The myth of the disappearing middle class" is a canard. Indeed, most living standards analysts think of the middle class as some chunk in the middle of the income distribution -- say the middle fifth or some variation therein -- which of course cannot by definition "disappear." I've been writing about middle class economics for decades and not once did I or my colleagues argue "disappearance." However, we did, and do, argue that the wage and income growth of middle class workers and families has weakened over time -- that the middle class has become increasingly squeezed. To understand the middle class squeeze, you've got to look at wages and hours.

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Republican Budget Represents a Bleak Future for America

Rep. Steny Hoyer | Posted 05.30.2012

All of us want to put America back on a sustainable fiscal path, but to do so everyone must be asked to pitch in. The Republican budget, however, places the entire burden of deficit reduction on the middle class, seniors, and the most vulnerable.

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Three Ways Labor Can Fight Back

David Macaray | Posted 05.27.2012

Read More: Labor, Organized Labor, Labor Unions, Tea Party, Middle Class, Politics News

It's time for organized labor to demonstrate not how reasonable they are, but how mean they can be. It's time for an all-out fight.

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Apocalypse Now: GOP Budget Offers Second-Rate Vision for First-Rate Country

Ethan Rome | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Super Rich, Taxes, GOP Budget, Budget, Middle Class, Gop, Affordable Care Act, Paul Ryan, Austerity, Family, Congress, House Republicans, 112th Congress, House Gop Budget, Paul Ryan Budget, Politics News

The GOP budget is an immoral and callous clarion call for the middle class to pay more and get less. It promotes prosperity for the few instead of opportunity for all. It says we should be on our own instead of bound together by common purpose.

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How the Gender Wars Became a Class War

Joan Williams | Posted 05.20.2012

Read More: Class Warfare, Education Gap, Economy, Middle Class, The Atlantic, Wage Gap, The End of Men, Gender Wars, Gender Wage Gap, Media News

When The Atlantic's article "The End of Men" came out, I was irritated. They're at it again in a piece that crows about "The Spectacular Triumph of Working Women Around the Globe" -- a title that becomes mystifying as soon as you read the article.

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Clash Warfare

Ed Crego, George Muñoz and Frank Islam | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Jacob Hacker, Lower Class, Charles Murray, Class Warfare, Upper Class, Andrew Kohut, American Dream, Pew Research Center, Middle Class, Politics News

"Clash warfare" may appeal to a minority, but it does nothing to respond to the economic and social concerns of the majority of Americans. For them, class warfare is not the issue -- fairness and opportunity are.

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