The Extinction of the American Middle Class

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The largest group in America is facing extinction. We are talking of course about the American middle class. In 1971 the American middle class population was 36% higher than the population of the lower class. However, today the middle class population is now only 22% higher than the lower class (McDill). This is only a 14% drop spread over 44 years. The major issue here is that while the middle class shrinks, the upper and lower classes are growing. Financial experts believe that soon the middle class will become nonexistent and America will be divided into two extremes, poverty and wealth. This issue has become so severe that the United States government has stepped in and created a “middle class task force” passed as part of the government “stimulus package” of 2009. However most experts including Kent McDill of the millionaires’ corner, Doyle McManus of the LA Times, Erik Kain of Forbes magazine believe that the government’s program is putting a knife in the middle class. They believe this because the government is taxing businesses until they are forced to leave America and go overseas. This, along with the rise of mechanical workers and ignorance of the issues facing the middle class led to the decreasing job market. Jobs in America will soon be split into either very high paying upper class jobs or very low paying jobs. This makes the job market a hit or miss in America. It is predicted that America will soon be either very rich or very poor with no middle ground. In 2009, the United States economy began to recover from the Great Recession. To aid in the recovery, the newly elected president Barak Obama created the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act better known as the second of two “Stimulus Packages.” Pa... ... middle of paper ... ...middle class into almost $200,000 in debt leaving school. Only 46% of them will escape falling into poverty out of this 46% a fraction of them will be able to enter into the upper level. Only returning a small minority to the middle class. Technology is developing a pace that society can not keep up too. Soon technology and foreign working outside America will take over all of the middle class jobs. As they can do if fast and cheaper than Americans. Soon the job market will divided into two half the upper class, and the lower class. Once this happens people will be fighting over a small percent of elite jobs only the best and brightest can attain. While the rest will fall into poverty. America’s job market is taking a huge step backwards and needs to be changed before we are at a point were we have peasants and nobles again. That is the direction America is heading.

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