http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/america-middle-class-crisis-sobering-facts-141947274.html

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MBlovr
'59 180 Dad's original
'59 180 Dad's 2nd one
'67 250SE Dad's last one
'59 220 SE My first one
'62 220SE Coupe second one
'89 190E 2.6 5spd third one
'06 E350 4matic (sold)
'10 E350 4matic

Interesting, but I really wish they would define their terms. Based on that article, I have no idea what they mean by "middle class."

The middle class of the mid to late 20th century was the result of huge US expansion where vast numbers of wage earners had great buying power. Even so, they still relied on subsidized health care, pensions, retirement plans / Social Security and other programs. So even with their relative affluence, they still got entitlements that were taken out of the "community pot".

These days, companies are outsourcing wherever possible to improve profits. The middle class still relies on those subsidies, but the community pot is shrinking. Basically the middle class can no longer justify its existence, at least not in the huge numbers we had before. So now we will see what happens when the poor disenfranchised become the majority of the electorate. I think the rich will get heavily zapped with taxes to help support health care and Social Security.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

During much of that period, certainly 1945 to 1975, the nation was much more economically potent than the rest of the world.

Just as sports team that has a big lead on their opponents can sometimes become complacent, sort of fall asleep and look up and see that they have lost the lead this nation also thought it could "coast" on its momentum, so to speak.

I remember in the'60s when made in Japan meant a cheap, inferior product.

Since capitalism simple means that capital has value (whether financial, intellectual, natural, etc) I'm not sure capitalism has much to do with what has become of us.

Looking at my town where there are neighborhoods with 3rd and 4th generation of inhabitants filled with cradle to grave welfare recipients, junior highs where girls have contests to see who can become pregnant at the earliest age and civil servants retiring in their 40s with obscene benefit packages, I'm not sure that capitalism is the main concern

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110614/bs_yblog_thelookout/workers-share-of-national-income-plummets-to-record-low

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MBlovr
'59 180 Dad's original
'59 180 Dad's 2nd one
'67 250SE Dad's last one
'59 220 SE My first one
'62 220SE Coupe second one
'89 190E 2.6 5spd third one
'06 E350 4matic (sold)
'10 E350 4matic

David Brooks had an interesting column in the last couple of days decrying the fact that no Republican politicians are addressing this question at all. How bad is it when conservative columnists are decrying the fact that Republicans don't give a **** about the working class.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

What happens when you increase the number of illegal aliens faster than they assimilate into the middle class?

What happens when your highest birth rate is among illegal aliens and the poor? But I repeat myself.

What difference does it make whether they are legal or illegal, they are still the US working class.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

If illegality means nothing, well shucks, I guess expecting folks to follow the law is a lost cause.

The question stands, regardless.

If the illegal aliens were deported, estimated to be over 17 million, it would cause a sudden decrease in the poverty rate and working poor in the USA. If the poverty rate decreased then by a miracle of proportionality, the middle and upper class proportions would expand.

By that same miracle of proportionality, if we continue to allow the boarder to hemorrhage illegal aliens then the poor will continue to expand in number, shifting the proportionality lower.

??????? And then the middle class would have to start doing the jobs of those 17 million people and what do you think that would do to their income levels?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Non sequitur.

I certainly wouldn't argue against that adding additional low wage labor will tend to drive down overall wages. It is akin to exporting jobs overseas.

I suspect that it is less of a core driver of the downward trajectory of the middle class.

I would argue that one contributor is the ongoing increase in productivity. As productivity has increased the amount of labor required to produce the needed goods and services decreases. If one assumes for a second a constant goods output model.
Then one possible result is increased leisure time for the average worker with the same real wages assuming that the worker is paid a fixed proportion to what he produces.

Another potential result is the productivity increases are translated into increased profits by paying the worker the same amount for the increased production per worker. Again assuming a constant output model this results in fewer workers needed which has the added effect of increased competition for the reduced amount of work by the labor pool which tends to drive down wages.

__________________
MBlovr
'59 180 Dad's original
'59 180 Dad's 2nd one
'67 250SE Dad's last one
'59 220 SE My first one
'62 220SE Coupe second one
'89 190E 2.6 5spd third one
'06 E350 4matic (sold)
'10 E350 4matic

Maybe. We're all replete with opinion with a sparsity of data.

From the economist's point of view, the legality/illegality is irrelevant. They're just looking at income distribution and not whether or not the earners are legal. The argument could be made that Catholicism is causing this but that would also be irrelevant to the economist.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

It stands to reason that if we remove 17 million workers (Botnst's figure) from the available labor pool, then the price of labor will rise and workers will be paid better. Since those 17 million have no legal right to be/work here, this makes sense to me.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.