Middle Class 102
When wealth is evenly distributed between all classes, then people have more time to look around at what is wrong with things and begin to expect changes in their society. In the ‘60s and ‘70s when taxes on the rich were highest and the middle class strongest, things began to change. A large civil rights movement started, women began to demand equal rights with men, an anti-war movement against the fighting in Vietnam grew, stronger consumer protection laws were demanded, and a environmental movement to save the planet began. Not to mention a large-scale youth rebellion in the ‘60s with young people trying to throw off the constraints of their parents morals and ideals. As a teenager and one of the millions of post-WWII babies in the ‘60s, I was delighted, frightened and anxious to see all these changes occurring around me and I eagerly went along with them. After I graduated from college in 1973, I got a job and then got married and along the way I acquired a son, a house and two cars. I worked full-time for 40 years, even surviving the great recession living the middle class life. Then it all ground to a halt, I lost my job and no one would hire an older (more expensive), worker. Where were my father’s jobs and prosperity? He had retired at age 65 and has never had to work another day in his life, whereas I am still trying to keep my head above water. What the heck happened?
Having a middle class is a choice, the actual, standard model of capitalism, is one of a small ultra-rich class and a very large, poor underclass, (think the Victorian age in England). When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1981 he began to cut taxes on the rich with the idea that with greater wealth, the rich would create more jobs for everyone. But surprise! The rich just kept the money for themselves. This has gone on now for 30 years and good-paying jobs for the middle class continue to disappear at an alarming rate as the rich continue to cut costs and maximize their profits. Not to mention the continuing high taxes on the remaining middle class to support the working government. The Reagan era conservatives also greatly feared the on-going social changes in the country and began to work to stop them. Killing off the middle class became the primary goal; drive the working middle class back to being the poor working class and create less contention with more control. And it has worked, there is a growing group of one-time middle class, white working people (now poor), who are terrified at being left behind and will follow anyone who says they can fix the situation and bring them back into the cherished and prosperous middle. It isn’t going to happen folks. Candidates backed by rich donors are not going to change the tax laws, especially when the same wealthy people are funding those getting elected. We stand at the end of an era, whether on not we continue on this path is a decision that must be made soon or we are all going to be poorer for the results. (Below, my current middle class house, let’s hope we can keep it.)
