Middle Class Shrinking

[Dr. Shane]

Middle-class areas shrinking in US: study

Quote:

The number of middle-income neighborhoods in the United States has dwindled significantly over the past 40 years, as the rich-poor divide deepens across the country, a study released Wednesday showed...

"Mixed income neighborhoods have grown rarer, while affluent and poor neighborhoods have grown much more common," the study said...

The rich and poor are more and more isolated from each other, with New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and Los Angeles ranking as the cities where such segregation is the most pronounced.

Only 13 metropolitan areas including Washington and Atlanta saw decreases in such income segregation, according to the study.

Just for the record, I am middle-class and live in a poor neighborhood. How poor is the neighborhood? At Christmas the local fire department comes down the street giving away gifts to all the children that go out to greet them.

It seems that the poverty rate is staying between 13%-17%. It is up a bit now because of the recession but overall it hasn't changed a lot over the past few decades. The middle class seems to be shrinking and the upper class growing. I am not sure that is a bad thing.

[phkrause]

Have heard this for many years. Not sure if this is something EGW mentions in her writings. One statement I recall: the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. Something to that effect.

[olger]

[Dr. Shane]

One statement I recall: the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.

That is not what appears to be happening. It appears that the rich are getting richer, the middle-class is becoming rich and the poor are remaining the same. The middle-class is slowly disappearing but not because they are becoming poor, but rather because they are becoming rich.

I wonder how much of that has to do with the two working parents both being professions. With more and more people going to college, we may see more and more families with two working professions. That would certainly decrease the number in middle-class and increase the number in the upper-class.

[bonnie]

Originally Posted By: pkrause

One statement I recall: the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.

That is not what appears to be happening. It appears that the rich are getting richer, the middle-class is becoming rich and the poor are remaining the same. The middle-class is slowly disappearing but not because they are becoming poor, but rather because they are becoming rich.

I wonder how much of that has to do with the two working parents both being professions. With more and more people going to college, we may see more and more families with two working professions. That would certainly decrease the number in middle-class and increase the number in the upper-class.

Generally you cannot "give" the poor out of poverty. Most people increase their standard of living by management and good old fashioned hard work.

MN has a large number of Laestadian Lutherans.As a people they do not believe in any form of birth control.NONE.12-20 biological children are the norm.College education among the men is not as high as the rest of the population.Trade schools and starting at a young age as a appentice in a trade are more common.The women because of the almost non-stop pregnancies rarely go to college.The frequency of childbirth would make their degree a waste.Welfare is looked on as shameful and as long as work can be obtained NEVER to be accepted.Parents do not pay the tutition for college.No television in the home.No alcohol.They live in decent homes,have late model cars and all the rest middle class families with 2-3 children generally have.

One area and difference in the general population is they excel in personal responsibility and hard work.Never accepting from others what they can and should provide for themselves.Women, instead of working outside the home generally will develop a home based business.I am sure that some don't but all I have been friends/acquaintances with have and are successful.Unwed mothers happen in their midst as any other.The "no welfare" concept applies to them as well.They also provide for their child without taxpayer handouts.

The difference for a people that should be barely existing by current standards and are far above that is perosnal responsibility and that dirty phrase called "hard work"