Deflating The Middle Class Dream

By Natasha Chart

Created 02/23/2010 - 10:22am

The dream of the middle class is that the majority of people will be able to comfortably cover their basic needs by working a reasonable number of hours at a probably unspectacular, but useful and therefore, respectable, job. A middle class life means a secure place to live, good food to eat, adequate medical care, the ability to purchase clothing and transportation services suitable to maintaining employment, and a stable environment for your children to grow up in so they can do as well or better [1].

Today, the entire concept of the middle class is being effectively scrapped in an environment where that level of economic security may often require desperate measures [2], or a six-figure income [3]. Why? Because no new jobs were created between 1999 and 2009 [4], completely deflating the wage economy.

In Avedon Carol's words, "Our owners are telegraphing that some magic formula dictates [5] that we have to be made miserable. Of course, what's making us miserable isn't magic - it's them." Productivity will likely continue to rise [6], but its benefits won't be shared [7] down the economic ladder [8], they'll be used as collateral to cash out productive enterprises [9] and fire their workers.