"
Middle class Americans now comprise less than half, or 49.9%, of the nation’s population, down from 61% in 1971, according to a new Pew Research Center report. For Pew, middle class Americans live in households earning between two-thirds to two times the nation’s median income. In 2014, that ranged from $41,900 to $125,600 for a three-person household."
And if a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation is true, the squeeze on the middle class is about to get tighter.
"That Obamacare penalty will be bigger than you think"
Households that opt to go without health insurance in 2016 are set to get hit with an average Obamacare fine of $969.
That is 47 percent higher than the average $661 penalty per uninsured household for this year, a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed Wednesday.
And households without insurance that earn too much to qualify for financial aid to buy Obamacare plans will pay an even larger fine for 2016 — an average of $1,450, versus the average of $1,177 for 2015.
Uninsured households that would qualify for Obamacare subsidies to help pay for coverage face an average fine of $738 — nearly double the $389 average for this year.
"It's a substantial increase," said Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, about the higher average fines.
27 comments:
I hate to spoil the rant, but that's what I do. The majority of the change (7% of the 11%) moved into the upper class. Is that supposed to be bad? Only 4% moved down in class. I also assume that these classes have been inflated higher over the years meaning that all three classes are higher incomes than they used to be. And another thing, due to technology advances, every income level is living better on that income than they used to: more free time, more choices in virtually everything you might want to buy or own, more convenience, more safety, healthier living. The things that are worse are the quality of our culture, our education, an increase in government intrusion, an increase in the number of taxes,and a reduction is personal responsibility and self-sufficiency.
bags - If you go to the Drudge link for this story it takes you to the LA Times, which gives a breakdown of the minimum household income needed to qualify for what Pew calls the middle class tier.
Here's the breakdown:
Household of one: $24,173
Household of two: $34,156
Household of three: $41,869
Household of four: $48,347
I think you'd agree those are laughably low figures for a middle class standard of living. Which makes the situation even worse than presented IMO.
That's the bottom of the middle class. And even at those incomes, people still can afford things undreamed of in 1971, and there is much more government support. Even the poor can afford cell phones, big TVs, vastly superior cars, etc., and of course an incredible increase in information and convenience due to computers and the internet. People are not living worse - we have raised our standards. Even if incomes doubled for everyone, there would be a great wringing of hands over the bottom third no matter how well off they were, and class envy is eternal and unrelated to personal well being. To concentrate only on the bottom is to lose perspective. More people are getting rich, a lot more. And everyone has a reality TV show. How do you put a value on that?
The very things we blame for our perceived loss, like international trade and globalism, are also what has made affordable the things that have improved our lives. Every home has much more in it than in the past, and those things are much more affordable in relative terms.
The rapid growth in the middle class, and general welfare we had in 50's and 60's was always unsustainable in the long run. It was a temporary convergence of factors favorable mostly to the U.S. and the west. It had to change eventually. Entropy always overcomes momentum sooner or later.
That bottom income of $24K is more than double what I supported myself on in expensive Los Angeles through the first half of the 1980's
Bago, well said. As you say, for every convenience is an inconvenience. Increased tech leads to increased government surveillance. Glorification of sex and violence leads to increased violence, leads to cctv on every street corner, a la Engand.
Nice point by bagoh20 that more middle class have jumped up into upper class than have fallen down into the lower class.
A reminder of the Shapiro post where he told students that people are poor because they are stupid with money.
Insulting but true.
I wonder if we are tracking the wrong thing- income for a given year. In my history I started with doodlely-squat and had two decades where I was money hungry, took overtime, fought for promotions and pushed myself for bonuses, even worked two jobs. But after we paid off the house, and had a cushion in savings, I left my high stress job and now have a happier job in the same field but in a non management role. My income is much lower than it was ten years ago. Have I slipped down a notch? I don’t think I am ‘more poor’ now.
I think the measure should be something like ‘net worth over time’ or ‘income mobility’.
I live a few blocks down from the Carnegie Mansion in NYC. At one time he was the richest man in the world. He used to have a paid organist on staff to waken his guests and himself with organ music that piped in to all the rooms. That was considered the height of luxury. Big deal. I have the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at my disposal to play Beethoven's Ode to Joy in the morning. Not that I do. The greatest and most enjoyable luxury you can have is to roll over and sleep for another hour.......On just about every level I have a better life than the richest man alive of one hundred years ago. This should be part of the equation when you start measuring wealth inequality........And it doesn't even take one hundred years to surpass that bar. I recently been reading about the private life of the Roosevelts during WWII. FDR died at sixty three of ailments that can now be controlled with inexpensive drugs. At the time of his death, he was wealthy and the most powerful man alive.
Using the Pew calculator the article links to, I see that in the last 10 years I've moved economically from
2005 upper class married household of 3 to
2006 middle class divorced household of 1 to
2007 lower class divorced household of 1 to
2008 upper class divorced household of 1 to
2009-2015 upper class married household of 2
Who says there's no economic mobility in the U.S.?
My advice, if you want your children to move up economically:
- never spend more than your income
- stay married until your last child turns 18
- read to your child every day from age 0 until he reads on his own
- stay out of trouble with the law
- don't drink or take recreational drugs including nicotine and tobacco
As I've said, the Demos want to use this crisis to do to white people what they did to black people.
What crisis?
The demographics in this report who moved up the most were: seniors over 65, married people, and Blacks. Those hardest hit were Hispanics, the young, and the poorly educated.
https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/10/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-because-th
Opportunities for people at the bottom are drying up because of labor reducing technology and government forced expenses on employers like minimum wage, and mandated benefits. Employers are moving to automation and outsourcing overseas. There are more opportunities for the skilled and experienced to get rich than ever, but less opportunities for the rest to even get started.
Government by good intentions is killing its targets faster than ever.
You sound like Bernie Sanders.
I'm probably talking over your head. I'm an intelecsual now.
Let me bring it down to the common man's level:
We both agree there is a problem, but Sanders thinks government is the solution, and I think it's the problem.
Since I'm also an eleete, and Bernie is not, I'm right.
I don't know hang with anyone making less than 150k and has and elite education.
The middle class seem so stupid to me. Why can't they pull themselves by their boot straps with hard work?
BTW, the Boston real estate and economy is booming-major high paying jobs and fab condo buildings going up on every corner.
There are huge cranes all over the city!
We are number 3 behind San Francisco and NYC for housing costs!
We are also one of the three most walkable cities in the country! And have the most biotech companies in the world!
There is a wait list to get into my building. When a unit becomes available there is a bidding war with prices over 200k the asking price!
We are doing super out here!
And we are some of the thinnest peeps in the country.
My hispanic maid drives a mercedes suv, hello?
I hate to spoil the rant, but that's what I do. The majority of the change (7% of the 11%) moved into the upper class.
And I hate to spoil Bags' need to distance himself from me, but I noticed the same thing. And I also agree with the question: Why is that shift, the majority of it upward, supposed to be more of a bad thing than a good thing?
We both agree there is a problem, but Sanders thinks government is the solution, and I think it's the problem.
Then why did it get worse after the government deconstructionist heydays of the 1980s and 90s and 2000s? Not everything is black and white. Obama agreed to sign legislation that repealed federal education standards and left primary responsibility for NCLB back to the states. Some things the government can and should get out of. But Republicans always seem to want to talk that talk without walking it. At the end of the day, the government bloats and bloats because of their need to get graft and subsidies for their lobbyists' money - which Republicans are very reliant on. I'd bet you that the majority of new legislation written these days is so that a Republican can find a way to pay off or otherwise favor a donor. I challenge a Republican, actually, to show how the majority of legislative text under their watch went to someone or some party other than a donor.
Bago, sir, may I call you The One?
Titus, you're too cool for this little pond.
I know Deb but I feel the fab need some representation here.
Otherwise, it would be a bunch of old angry overweight white men repeating the same things over and over.
Post a Comment