What middle class?

[angrychair]

Over 50% of Americans are in the bottom income quintile.
Conversely, over 50% of the nation’s wealth is held by just 4% of the population.

The middle class is at the smallest it’s been in generations.

The ability of our economy to sustain this income distribution is reaching a breaking point and there is no fix in sight as a smaller and smaller demographic takes more and more wealth from fewer and fewer pockets.

[nolabear]

1. Is your point here to attack Warren?

[angrychair]

4. Absolutely not

Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2019, 05:00 PM - Edit history (1)

My intent is to absolve us of the misconception that there is a “middle class” in any conventional sense of the word.
Conventional sense being that of the post WWII middle class economy which is the idealistic standard of the middle class.

No such thing exist today and hasn’t for many years. It’s a myth.

Like many other problems people experience in their life, unless you acknowledge you actually have one, you can do nothing to fix it.

Most ideals of “middle class” is $50,000. Over 40% of income earners make less than that.

Just 4% of the population, 13 million people, hold roughly 52% of our nation’s wealth.
More shocking than that is barely 1% of population, 3.2 million, holds 42% of the nation’s wealth.

“Middle class” is a myth. It doesn’t exist. Unless we figure out a way to rebalance our economy and restore our middle class, sooner rather than later, it will collapse like a house of cards. Serfdom and work camps will be less dystopian fantasy and more dystopian reality.

[SCantiGOP]

3. Factually incorrect

A quintile, by definition, is a 20% share. There is no way 50% could be in the bottom quintile. This would mean that 50% was in the bottom 20%.

[angrychair]

5. I'll restate it

I was trying to use simple figures for illustration purposes.

The 3 bottom quintiles, collectively, have a negative net worth (debt is greater than assets)

90% of all stocks and bonds are held by the top 10% of population.

The top top 1% hold 42% of the nation’s wealth.

[SCantiGOP]

6. Sorry if my post sounded like an attack

I do agree with your basic premise; guess my Economics background got the best of me.

[angrychair]

7. No, it's fine

I stated it poorly. My fault. I didn’t mean to come back sounding snarky. I appreciate the correction. Unlike our republican “friends” Democrats should deal in truths and facts. It’s our biggest advantage over them.

My bigger point was to convey that the stereotypical perspective of middle class is just a fantasy now. Long term (say next 20+ years), the current trend line of our economy is just not sustainable.
We are on a bullet train heading towards catastrophic economic collapse and we are all but ignoring it.