On Aug. 14, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney rolled through Ohio on his "The Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class" Bus Tour. Two weeks earlier, president-and-candidate Barack Obama made his own appeal to Ohio's "average middle-class family" on his ninth campaign stop in the state. Both campaigns have placed Ohio and the middle class at the core of their messages. Each insists that they will protect and improve the middle class's well-being, while the other will destroy it for the sake of the super-rich in one case, the welfare-state in the other. As Ohioans find themselves at the center of all this attention (often unfortunately so, being on the receiving end of 400 political ads per day), I set out to find out what it means to be in Ohio's middle class, from Ohioans themselves. As it happens, the lower end of the spectrum is lower than Obama, Romney, and our national psyche might realize.
Billy, a tall and fit 59 year old from Cleveland, considers himself middle class. He didn't grow up that way, though. He used to be on public assistance, which he "couldn't wait to get off" as he was "never satisfied getting handouts." Once he did get off of it, he apparently entered the ranks of the middle class. For him, and others I spoke with, public assistance is the dividing line. But it is a precarious borderline at best. Approaching retirement age, the national economy took a dive and Billy was laid off his job at Ohio Savings. He spent nearly a year unemployed, though he managed to get by with some Internet entrepreneurship, food stamps, unemployment and, as a veteran, some assistance from the VA. He gave up cable TV and sold his car. He has since found work in telemarketing but he has no plans to pay for cable or a car again. That's because Billy has given up on the idea of job security: "There's just no such thing." No cable, no car, no job security, and yet Billy is confidently middle class.
Arianna is optimistically moving up into Billy's version of the middle class. A 25-year-old young woman from Glenville, she works full time as a bank teller, attends Cleveland State University full time, and does community event planning on the side. She doesn't mind balancing out so many commitments, because she loves studying public relations. But at one point she had to "sit out for a little bit." Although her father was laid off at the start of the recession, her mother's income, then alone supporting the whole family, was "too much" to qualify Arianna for financial aid. Her tuition, around $25,000, exceeds her full-time income of about $22,000. So, of course, Arianna takes loans to pay for school. She expects to be $50-60,000 in debt upon graduation, and wants to keep going to pursue a master's degree as well. "I'm not stopping. So I'll probably be in debt for the rest of my life." In debt and, as Arianna believes, "getting closer" to the middle class.
Rhonda knows something about debt, and she is raising her son Jordan as best she can to ensure that he goes to college on scholarship. Rhonda is a single mother and was herself the daughter of a teenage single mother. In May 2011 she received an undergraduate degree in social work from Ursuline College, one year before her son begins his own college applications. For a year before graduation the only work she could get was as an unpaid intern. Knowing the challenge that would pose, she prepared her son by telling him, "'Listen, we're going to have to go apply for food stamps, 'cause while I'm interning I don't know how we're going to eat,' cause you know, some kids are embarrassed." After that hardship year, the organization hired Rhonda on a full-time basis. Still, she thinks she could use a part-time job for extra wages to live more comfortably. She wants to buy a house, and she really wants to go on a vacation. Rhonda has never been on vacation, or even been on an airplane. She reflects, "I've never been on a vacation. Ever. I want to go to Niagara Falls. I want to go to Disney. I want to go to one of the islands. I've never been on a vacation. Ever." And "oh yeah," she considers herself middle class.
Rana B. Khoury is an independent writer researching the impact of the economic downturn on Ohioans. She blogs at http://ranakhoury.com.
Follow Rana B. Khoury on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rbkhoury
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 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Top 5 % gets as much to spend each year as...
Bottom 40%.....Nope
Bottom 60%.....Nope
Bottom 80%.....Sad but true !
This is not a Free Market....it's Vulture Capitalism....
in so many aspects.....and is killing the golden goose...
Defeat the GOP !
she is not rich.....is that the new middle class ?
With fancy pants dancing horses, etc....can they
even relate to ' mere ' millionaire's ?
Much of it is raw Globalization....naked greed....
misunderstood and underfunded education....
unfair trade from China, Japan, and many other's...
And while both parties are to blame too.....the GOP is far worse....
as they usually are about most issue's...
Redistribution is not a strategy.
Is this FAIR ?
The top 5 % get to spend as much each year as the
BOTTOM 80 % !!!!
That's bad in regular times....these are Tough Times.....
time for the Super Rich to kick in a bit more....
[ and sadly....still be really, really Rich ! ....but
I do feel for you....]
http://rodgermmitchell.wordpress.com/2011/12/24/why-federal-debt-is-not-debt-and-federal-borrowing-is-not-borrowing/
Deficit spending is the only way to grow the economy. Not only in difficult times but ALWAYS.
(Federal Deficits = Net Private Savings+ net imports), applies to USA and other nations that have their own currencies. The treasury uses this equation which is an accounting identity. If all deficits are added, the above equation leads to
(cumulative total govt_deficit) = (total national private wealth) = 60 Trillion, approx. This is proved in
http://pshakkottai.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/national-debt-and-national-wealth-compared/
http://pshakkottai.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/another-proof-of-mmt-4/
In short, (govt deficit) is (peoples' anti-deficit) and (govt surplus) is (peoples anti-surplus)!
(Cumulative Govt_deficit / GDP) is exactly the same as (peoples' wealth/ GDP) and can be any number not limited to 100%. The actual figure for USA is about 400%. Govt debt counts only T securities and the ratio (govt_debt/GDP) is 100%.
There is no reason for austerity in monetarily sovereign USA. USA can and must deficit fund much more (like Japan). All infrastructure including free university education can be funded easily by USA if MS is well understood
Yet even the working class had some job security not that many years ago.
If you worked hard and your employer was satisfied, you knew you would probably keep your job, a job with good wages and benefits.
****Layoffs or the company going out of business were usually how you lost your job.
And if your company couldn't keep you through no fault of your own.....you expected to find another, similar job.
People may think they are middle class, yet many are just making it and are only a few paychecks from poverty.
Today, there is little job (or any kind of) security.
Sad.
Obama 2012!!
in ad's around Cincy.....as if they can make up anything
and if it's said often enough some independents will
believe it...!
GOP and allies like Sheldon Adelson, with $ 100 Million alone,
are out to BUY this election ! Fight them !
The right plan is to work through your teens and 20's, gain in skill so you don't have to earn minimum wage, save 1-3 years income, find a partner, and plan a family. That's the only path out of poverty.
If people can't manage to do that...they're screwed. It's not the fault of the wealthy that people don't study in high school, get pregnant, and never improve their skills.
Social issues (teen pregnancy) are another subject. Defunding Planned Parenthood will only exacerbate unplanned pregnancy. I've actually worked with urban poor minorities (some were teen mothers, some were male felons) in job search - I know a little about the urban poor experience. But thanks....good post.
A. Most elementary school and high school education is provided free, courtesy of the states.
B. But, states are monetarily non-sovereign, and cannot create dollars at will. Most have serious financial problems. Supporting lower education is a large burden for the states. By contrast, the federal government is Monetarily Sovereign, having the ability to create dollars at will.
C. Even with free education available, many students opt out of elementary and, especially, high school. One reason: Families cannot afford to support the students. They need the students to go out and earn money.
D. College education is important to U.S. economic growth in this increasingly technical world, where machines do more of the “grunt” work, and brains increasingly are more important than brawn.
Soution to the student loan problem:
1. The federal government should take over the funding of elementary and high school education. Because the states are strapped for funds, lower education funding may take a back seat. Every day, America loses our most important resources: Our young people.
2. The federal government should take over the funding of college education, including advanced degree education.
3. The federal government also should pay each student a salary for attending school. from
http://rodgermmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/curing-the-student-loan-problem-and-helping-to-reduce-unemployment-all-at-one-stroke/