Where has the middle class gone?

The disparity between the rich and the poor seems to be getting bigger and bigger with each day and this widening gap is wiping out the middle class not only in this country but globally.

Throughout the world the middle class is shrinking, according to a new report by the OECD. With each new generation, a smaller share of the population finds themselves earning middle incomes. This shrinking trend worldwide seems to be taking an affect on people, especially in countries where food and medicine are not relatively available. Is the middle class worse off than it was a few decades ago?

Many seem to think so… looks like the middle class is being wiped out by increases in the price of housing, education, childcare, and healthcare, sources of what is deemed to be increased hardship on the middle class. Others cite the rising costs of education as a primary contributor to the relative decline of the middle class, and still others cite the increasing reliance on having two incomes per household. Whatever the reasons are and there a lot more, the reality is that the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and the increasing costs to many needed areas to thrive as a society. When the income by most increases by a few percentage points, and the things that need to be obtained rise by hundreds… the disparity continues to take place and that gap will widen between the rich and the poor.

For many people the term middle class evokes specific attributes, such as thriftiness and dedication to work. Others define it in relation to income, and in the minds of many those in the middle class are likely to have some retirement savings, own a house, and send their children to college. Yet even large majorities call themselves middle-class, they also believe that the middle class is segmented. Many folks say they are either lower middle class or upper middle class. This to me suggests that people believe the middle class is much broader than most researchers would demarcate it. Either way, many want to believe that they are in this category, but in reality, they are most likely on the poverty line or close to it.

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to further accelerate these trends. Workers in the service sector, unable to work remotely, were disproportionately displaced from their jobs. Other employment disruptions led firms to automate more jobs. The increased costs and risks of interpersonal contact could speed firm’s adoption of robotics, payment machines, and other labor-saving technology. Efforts by governments to support workers and businesses will help prevent families from falling into poverty, but the massive restructuring of the economy resulting from the pandemic will likely generate further declines in the middle class and a disproportionate entry into the lower class.

Employment and wages are declining and the retreat from work among less-educated prime age adults, especially men, is well documented. One reason for these declines in employment and labor force participation is that work is less rewarding. Wages for those at the bottom and middle of the skill and wage distribution have declined or stagnated. The college was premium has flattened in recent years, but workers with a college degree can still expect to earn over 80 percent more than those with just a high school diploma. These trends are not only affecting those at the bottom – they are affecting workers in the middle as well. But the sector that has been affected the most, is the middle class.

These trends are happening not only in this country but in most parts of the world. But this disparity has created the movement of revolute and the move to overthrown governments and its leaders. Just look at what’s happening in Cuba and how this nation has suppressed its population to keep it poor, while the one percent was getting richer. This Cuban population has revolted against its government and the people will no longer take such disparities. Cuba is just one example for a change, Iran and Afghanistan are also revolting against its governments and change will also happen there. Even the great United States has its problems, and those cracks are starting to show and the protests against the administration from past to present has its challenges.

Cubans are protesting massively, because the island is facing the worst economic crisis in decades, causing hardships for the Cuban people that rival those during the 1990’s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union devastated the country. Food shortages, skyrocketing inflation that has made goods even more expensive, and hourlong electricity blackouts have been compounded by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic – which dried up tourism dollars and remittances from Cuban living abroad that have served as vital sources of foreign currency and income for families on the island. This problem is only the beginning and other countries will follow with revolt against its governments.

Social media and global influencers are also in my opinion part of this new revolution and they will help create the new world because it will be broadcast to you and l through social media and other platforms where you get your information from. Controlled social media and general media will not show you the disparity between the rich and the poor, but true libertarian media will give you the straight good.

I have to comment on Richard Branson and in particular Jeff Bezos where these individuals are the problem and how they control societies through their money and power. Jeff Bezos who floats into space for ten minutes with other rich dudes at costs in the millions and thank their customers for giving him the luxury to do so, is utterly outrages. The hypocrisy after he spends this money for a 10-minute thrill and then having to show the rest of us that he contributing to other needed causes is just hierocracy at its best. When most of us see these anticks and the display of the over abundance of wealth by a small group, they are the ones with their displays that provoke others to rebel against them and what they stand for. These may me tough words against them, but they truly are symbolic of the problems we have today.

It’s people like Bezos and George Soros and others that want to control governments and societies through their wealth and power and create a one world order that will totally control the levers of power and wealth that will continue to ultimately create the gap between the rich and the poor.

Vincent Black/MS