Tuesday, May 20, 2008
"(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents: Just Being Middle Class Is Becoming out of Reach" - via alternet
Economic realities have undergone seismic shifts since our parents' and grandparents' generations. Education and housing cost more. Incomes have leveled off for all but a small minority. Employers and the government supply few social safety nets, cutting health insurance and pensions and replacing them with new "benefits" like 401(k)s and health savings plans that benefit only those with income to set aside. But many of those middle class expectations set in place back in the '50s still hold.
This is a great article. I think the trends Nan Mooney identifies are good for our society. When first becoming prosperous and convenienced, Americans should have used their extra income to better the rest of the world, rather than to conspicuously consume luxuries for self-gratification. If we had chosen to prove that free trade was good for the world, rather than revel in greed, capitalism might have prevailed. But it looks like we're heading in the other direction.
Labels: American middle class, class division, luxury consumption, shrinking middle class
