U.S. Middle Class is Struggling

So reports CNN Money.com on the harsh reality of much of America's middle class families. Not that the Chimperator or John McCain would have a clue based on their privileged backgrounds and McCain's wealth via his heiress wife. While things are great for the top 1% or so of the population earning gobs of money and controlling over 1/3 of the country's wealth, things for everyone else basically suck and people are struggling to get by or maintain their standard of living. Some are even routinely borrowing against their retirement IRA's to survive. Unfortunately, too many in the middle class fall for the "no new taxes" and similar mantras put out by the GOP not realizing that despite the PR, the true beneficiaries of these programs are the wealthy and not themselves. Just as the Christianists rely on people not knowing the true history of this nation when the Christianists re-write the views of the Founding Fathers, so too the GOP relies on people not understanding that sound bites that sound good do not in fact benefit the listeners. Here are some highlights:

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America's middle class is growing increasingly squeezed by sagging incomes and soaring expenses, experts told Congress on Wednesday. Adjusted for inflation, median household income dropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007, said Elizabeth Warren, professor at Harvard Law School, in written testimony before the Joint Economic Committee. At the same time, the average family is spending $4,655 more on basic expenses, such as gas, housing, food and health insurance. Gas alone costs $2,195 more for a family making the same commute in May 2008 as it did eight years earlier.

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To cover these soaring expenses, many people have had to turn to credit cards. Nearly 10% of total disposable income in the United States goes to paying off such debt, Warren said. "There have never been since the Depression so many families standing right on the edge," Warren said. "Families have tightened their belts. They have cut down in every discretionary spending area they possible can."

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"There is a silent cry going out as middle class families gather around their dinner tables each night to talk about how to pay their ballooning bills," he said. "Middle class families are the engine of our economy, but their earning power and economic security has actually declined in the last seven years."

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Increasing economic inequality is to blame, testified Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute. While the middle class is contributing to productivity, the rewards are increasingly going to the wealthy.