America Without a Middle class

And Conversations With ‘Pop’ Smith

The Economy - “America Without a Middle Class”: A few posts ago, PH posted clips from the Financial Times posting, “We must get ready for a weak-dollar world” and Charles Hugh Smith’s post/view on “The Grand Failure of Government to Limit Concentration of Power”.

Photo credit: aka_Kath

Today we’re posting excerpts from the excellent Elizabeth Warren (“Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the banking bailouts“) article of December 4, 2009 in The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com), “America Without a Middle Class” , to illustrate some of the results of a weak dollar combined with a concentration of power in our government. Here are those excerpts:

• “Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can’t make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million homeowners out on the street. Families have survived the ups and downs of economic booms and busts for a long time, but the fall-behind during the busts has gotten worse while the surge-ahead during the booms has stalled out. … ”

• “The crisis facing the middle class started more than a generation ago. Even as productivity rose, the wages of the average fully-employed male have been flat since the 1970’s.”

• “Through it all, families never asked for a handout from anyone, especially Washington. They were left to go on their own, working harder, squeezing nickels, and taking of themselves.”

• “The contrast with the big banks could not be sharper. While the middle class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was supposed to serve them prospered at their expense. Consumer banking — selling debt to middle class families — has been a gold mine.”

• “And when various forms of this creative banking triggered economic crisis, the banks went to Washington for a handout. All the while, top executives kept their jobs and retained their bonuses.”

• “Pundits talk about “populist rage” as a way to trivialize the anger and fear coursing through the middle class. But they have it wrong. Families understand with crystalline clarity that the rules they have played by are not the same rules that govern wall street.”

Conversations With ’Pop’ Smith:

PH Question:“ ‘Pop’, we were a part of a conversation on family preparedness this week and someone reminded us to check and make sure our “two’s and three’s” were in place. What are the “two’s and three’s”?
‘Pop’: The “two’s and three’s”, as far as I know, are a local expression referring to the back-ups a lot folks in the our preparedness community have for their important/critical preparedness items. Some examples: for most of us, two pair of glasses would fall within the “two’s” while the ways and means to make a fire contained in our Get Home or G.O.O.D. bags might fall within the “three’s – say, a magnifying glass, waterproof matches and magnesium block with a flint-type rod.

Also, the twos and threes can, and will, vary. Someone with very bad eyesight might want three pair of glasses as a back-up, another person with a large amount of stored food in cans might feel comfortable with only two can-openers. It’s a personal judgment call.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.