Middle Class

As the Herald News reports that the American middle class is not earning as much as they used to, Newsweek informs us that Americans are spending more and more money to pamper our pets. How can this be? We are earning less, but we are spending more of the little we earn to take puffy to get a “Dead Sea Mudpack” to improve the softness of its skin and hair. I think the answer for this phenomenon has a whole lot to do with the fact that some people are earning more and more while others are earning less and less. According to the Herald News article “Middle Class Workers Earning Less Than Previous Generations” Chief Executive Officers (CEO) are now earning about 262 times the salary of their average worker – that number was only 32 times back in 1978. Additionally, it is not only the CEO that is making more money, but also the presidents and the numerous Vice-presidents a company can have that are also creating a bigger gap between the affluent and folks at the lower economic scale.

A healthy middle class is what truly separates the US from many “third world” countries. For instance, I created these two graphs to depict the difference between third world country X and the US economy. The first graph – the bowling pin – shows the US economy. This graph shows a small amount people on top, a small amount of people at the bottom and a large healthy gut in the middle representing the middle class. However, now look the dumbbell graph depicting the economy of third world country X. As you can see the Middle class is almost non-existent while the lower class represents a large amount of the population. Another aspect that should be taken into consideration is the size of the upper class in the “dumbbell graph.” A whole lot of people think that there are no rich people in third world countries, however they are wrong. Some third world countries have a sizeable upper class which like in the US, earn hundreds of times more than the average worker. In these third world countries, corporations run the country by influencing policy and everything else. Employees barely have rights, if any at all. In the US as well, unlike in the 60s and 70s when unions and government protected the American worker, many employees are now non-contract/non-unionized employees that could be let go a will. This trend is overtaking the US and is eroding the American middle class. This will have a tremendous impact on the way we live and if it is not stopped, it will have a negative impact on the way we live and our status in the world; since it is the middle class that has kept this country moving and on top for so many years.