" That's the problem with being middle-class. Anybody who really cares will abandon you for those who need it more..."
-Mr. Bergstrom's parting remarks, ``Lisa's Substitute''
Well, the poor need looking after - that's the highest form of virtue these days, right? - and the rich have got plenty of money and tax dodges, and so are able to fend for themselves just fine.
And the middle? Well, I don't know if there is anyone who really cares about the middle calss at all these days:
As a result of a sizeable drop in home values, along with over-extended credit and rising unemployment, as many as one in four of the 31 million middle class families are in danger of dropping a rung on the economic ladder...
Families who were frantically patching together a middle class life with both mom and dad in the workforce, using credit cards to cover unexpected bills, home equity as an ATM and a prayer, have run out of buffers against financial calamity.
Economists are sounding alarms because a healthy middle class is crucial for a healthy economy. Middle-class workers - especially the small business owners who serve as the economy's backbone and pay taxes as individuals - contribute billions to federal and state coffers.
"Without a strong middle class, the dream of a sustained economic recovery will turn out to be just that, a dream," said Christian Weller, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress.
Show me a nation without a thriving middle class, and I'll show you a nation that is lawless, corrupt, and mired in poverty.
Not like us under the Obama administration, right?
It's OK. Once cap-and-trade arrives to send energy costs "skyrocketing", and nationalized health insurance raises taxes and limits treatments to save money, and Sonia Sotomayor is in place to make sure that firefighters get denied promotion based on the color of their skin, I am sure that the middle class will recover, and thrive....
If only we keep hoping hard enough.
-Mr. Bergstrom's parting remarks, ``Lisa's Substitute''
Well, the poor need looking after - that's the highest form of virtue these days, right? - and the rich have got plenty of money and tax dodges, and so are able to fend for themselves just fine.
And the middle? Well, I don't know if there is anyone who really cares about the middle calss at all these days:
As a result of a sizeable drop in home values, along with over-extended credit and rising unemployment, as many as one in four of the 31 million middle class families are in danger of dropping a rung on the economic ladder...
Families who were frantically patching together a middle class life with both mom and dad in the workforce, using credit cards to cover unexpected bills, home equity as an ATM and a prayer, have run out of buffers against financial calamity.
Economists are sounding alarms because a healthy middle class is crucial for a healthy economy. Middle-class workers - especially the small business owners who serve as the economy's backbone and pay taxes as individuals - contribute billions to federal and state coffers.
"Without a strong middle class, the dream of a sustained economic recovery will turn out to be just that, a dream," said Christian Weller, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress.
Show me a nation without a thriving middle class, and I'll show you a nation that is lawless, corrupt, and mired in poverty.
Not like us under the Obama administration, right?
It's OK. Once cap-and-trade arrives to send energy costs "skyrocketing", and nationalized health insurance raises taxes and limits treatments to save money, and Sonia Sotomayor is in place to make sure that firefighters get denied promotion based on the color of their skin, I am sure that the middle class will recover, and thrive....
If only we keep hoping hard enough.
i searched that quote and your blog came up...
ReplyDeletethe middle class are the ones looking after the poor, and making the rich richer.
good article
Thanks, Weeks!
ReplyDelete