Pocketbook Pain: The Rapidly Rising Cost Of Living Is Absolutely Killing The Middle Class In America

Pain In The WalletAll over America, the middle class is dying and poverty is on the rise.  One of the primary reasons for this is the rapidly rising cost of living in the United States.  The cost of just about everything that average families shell out money for on a regular basis – food, rent, health insurance, etc. – is rising much faster than wages are.  In a previous article I noted that the federal poverty level for a family of five is $28,410, but 51 percent of all American workers are making less than $30,000 a year at this point.  We have seen an explosion in the number of people in this country that are considered to be “the working poor” and it gets worse with each passing year. (Read More...)

Goodbye Middle Class: 51 Percent Of All American Workers Make Less Than 30,000 Dollars A Year

The Middle Class - Public DomainWe just got more evidence that the middle class in America is dying.  According to brand new numbers that were just released by the Social Security Administration, 51 percent of all workers in the United States make less than $30,000 a year.  Let that number sink in for a moment.  You can’t support a middle class family in America today on just $2,500 a month – especially after taxes are taken out.  And yet more than half of all workers in this country make less than that each month.  In order to have a thriving middle class, you have got to have an economy that produces lots of middle class jobs, and that simply is not happening in America today. (Read More...)

If The American Dream Is To Own A Home, Then It Hasn’t Been In Worse Shape Since 1967

Home House For Sale Mortgage MortgagesThanks to the “Obama recovery”, the rate of homeownership in the United States has fallen to the lowest level in 48 years.  The percentage of Americans that own a home is widely considered to be a key indicator of the health of the middle class, and we have just learned that during the second quarter of 2015 that number dropped from 63.7 percent to 63.4 percent.  It is now the lowest that it has been since 1967.  Unlike a lot of other government economic statistics, this one is fairly difficult to manipulate.  Either someone owns a home or they do not.  And what the homeownership rate is telling us is that the percentage of Americans that can qualify for a mortgage has been falling dramatically.  Just take a look at the following chart.  This is not just a decline – this is a complete and utter collapse… (Read More...)

The Death Of The American Dream In 22 Numbers

Abandoned HomeWe are the generation that gets to witness the end of the American Dream.  The numbers that you are about to see tell a story.  They tell a story of a once mighty economy that is dying.  For decades, the rest of the planet has regarded the United States as “the land of opportunity” where almost anyone can be successful if they are willing to work hard.  And when I was growing up, it seemed like almost everyone was living the American Dream.  I lived on a “middle class” street and I went to a school where it seemed like almost everyone was middle class.  When I was in high school, it was very rare to ever hear of a parent that was unemployed, and virtually every family that I knew had a comfortable home and more than one nice vehicle.  But now that has all changed.  The “American Dream” has been transformed into a very twisted game of musical chairs.  With each passing year, more people are falling out of the middle class, and most of the rest of us are scrambling really hard to keep our own places.  Something has gone horribly wrong, and yet Americans are very deeply divided when it comes to finding answers to our problems.  We love to point fingers and argue with one another, and meanwhile things just continue to get even worse.  The following are 22 numbers that are very strong evidence of the death of the American Dream… (Read More...)

25 Stats That Prove That The American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed

The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In AmericaThe 25 statistics that you are about to read are solid proof that the middle class in America is being systematically wiped out.  Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world.  It seemed like almost everyone owned a home, had a couple of nice vehicles and could provide a very comfortable lifestyle for their families.  Sadly, that has all changed.  In America today, prices are rising at a very brisk pace but incomes are not.  There aren’t nearly enough jobs for everyone anymore, and most of the jobs that are being “created” are jobs that pay very little.  The largest employer in America is Wal-Mart, and the second largest employer is actually a temp agency (Kelly Services).  In a desperate attempt to make ends meet, millions of American families endlessly pile up more debt, and millions of other American families find themselves forced to turn to the government for help.  At this point, more than 49 percent of all Americans receive benefits from the federal government each month.  The percentage of Americans that cannot financially take care of themselves is rising every single year, and our independence is being whittled away as we become increasingly dependent on the government.  Unfortunately, our politicians continue to stand aside and do nothing as our jobs are shipped overseas, inflation steals our purchasing power and the middle class continues to shrink.  The following are 25 stats that prove that the American Dream is being systematically destroyed… (Read More...)

22 Statistics That Prove That The American Dream Is Being Systematically Destroyed

The American Dream is being systematically destroyed right in front of our eyes and most Americans don’t even realize what is happening.  In the old days, if you were a hard worker and you played by the rules you could always find a good job.  That good job would enable you to buy a house, buy at least one car and support a family.  It would also enable you to take a couple of vacations each year and buy some nice things for your family.  After working for 30 or 40 years you would look forward to a comfortable retirement.  But these days fewer and fewer Americans are able to enjoy the American Dream.  Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a breathtaking pace.  Our economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for all of us anymore, and an increasing percentage of the jobs that are being produced pay 10 dollars an hour or less.  The cost of living continues to rise steadily every single year while wages do not.  Close to half of all American workers are living month to month, and many American families have gone deep into debt as they struggle to pay the bills.  Millions more Americans are falling into poverty each year and dependence on the government is at an all-time high.  Something is fundamentally wrong with our economy.  It is not working the way that it used to, and the middle class is being absolutely shredded.  Most American families are finding it harder and harder to make it through each passing year, and unless a miracle happens things are going to continue to get even harder. (Read More...)

Are They Insane? 58 Percent Of Americans Believe Economic Conditions In The United States Will Be Good A Year From Now

There is nothing wrong with being optimistic, but there is something wrong with having blind faith that things are going to get better when all of the evidence is screaming at you that things are going to get worse.  According to a brand new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 71 percent of all Americans consider economic conditions  in the United States to be poor right now, but an astounding 58 percent of them believe that economic conditions in the United States will be good a year from now.  So what can account for this?  Are they insane?  Are they hopelessly optimistic?  Do they not want to believe the facts that are staring them right in the face?  Well, a lot of it probably has to do with the upcoming election.  Most Republicans are convinced that things will be “better” somehow if Romney wins in November.  Most Democrats are convinced that things will “continue to improve” if Obama wins in November.  But the truth is that the economy has been declining steadily in recent years no matter which party has been in power.  Today, the American Dream is out of reach for huge numbers of formerly middle class families.  Millions of jobs continue to leave the United States, poverty is absolutely exploding and our nation is absolutely drowning in debt.  Sadly, nothing is being done to reverse the long-term economic trends that are destroying us.  So, a year from now things are not going to be any better.  In fact, many analysts are absolutely convinced that things are going to be a whole lot worse by then. (Read More...)

Formerly Great Cities All Over America Are Turning Into Open, Festering Sores

Once upon a time, the people of the United States constructed beautiful, shiny cities from coast to coast that were the envy of the entire globe. We had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen and life was quite good in America.  But now all of our prosperity is coming crashing down and many of our formerly great cities are turning into open, festering sores.  Unfortunately, we are drowning in so much debt that we can barely even slow down the shocking decline of our cities.  Over the past decade, tens of thousands of manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped out of the United States.  As our economic infrastructure has been ripped out right in front of our eyes, an atmosphere of unemployment, poverty and despair has descended on many of our major cities like a soaking wet blanket.  Today, many of our cities that once were considered to be some of the greatest in the world have been transformed into rotting, post-apocalyptic hellholes.  When you visit many of these cities and look into the sunken eyes of the residents, you almost get the feeling that something has sucked all of the hope and all of the life right out of them.  For a while, large numbers of Americans still believed that the right politician would bring them “hope” and “change”, but now crushing despair is giving way to absolute desperation for millions of people.  Desperate people do desperate things, and as our major cities continue to decay they are going to become very dangerous places to be. (Read More...)