US Middle Class & The Lost Decade

A recent Pew Research Study indicates that the Middle Class, defined as families earning between $39,000 and $118,000, has been in decline for the last 10 or more years.  Many are calling it the Lost Decade.  Median income from 2000 to 2010 has fallen from about $72,000 to $69,000, which when adjusted for inflation indicates a real drop in earnings.   In addition, on average, the Middle Class has lost about 39% of their net worth since Obama was elected President as a result of a loss in home value.  While the top 10%, presumably the well educated with job skills that are both marketable and valuable, have seen incomes rise, the bottom 90%, those with little or no education and minimal job skills have fallen behind. 

Of course, President Obama and his Socialist pals in government will draw the wrong conclusion from this data seeking to play the Class Warfare game by blaming the "rich", big corporations, Wall Street, Banks etc. etc. for the decline of the Middle Class in America.   In fact, the poor in America are not poor because the rich are rich, they are poor because they lack education and marketable job skills.   The unemployment rate among those with college degrees is only about 4%.   Most of the 23 million unemployed, under employed working part time that want full time work, or that have just given up looking for work altogether are Americans with little or no education, or marketable job skills.  It is what it is. 

The reality is that all Americans, in every job, face global competition today made possible by the Internet and the free flow of information that alllows work to be done from almost anywhere on earth.   It addition, technology like robotics, has made it possible to do more factory work with fewer employees and that is ultimately true everywhere in the world.   And,  the US federal government is a big part of the problem, rather than the solution.   The US now has the highest corporate income tax rate in the world making is cost effective to move jobs to lower cost countries.  In addition, unions and thousands of regulations have made it impossible to manufacture many items in the US.   Those jobs are now in China and other countries. 

Further, the Environmental Protection Agency has driven up the cost of all types of energy, which has increased the cost of manufacturing in the US, the likely employers of Americans, with little or no education.  In other words,  the decline of the Middle Class in the US is no accident.   It has occurred through a confluence of events and circumstances, many that we can control, with the right pro growth government economic policy in place.

In addition, the Decline of the Middle Class coincides with the decline of our Public Schools, brought about by teacher unions that refuse to allow meaningful education reform.  The fact that any kid would leave high school, either as a drop out, or without any marketable job skill is downright criminal.   Yet, it is happening by the millions every year.   If the Middle Class is to rebound, we have to get our country back on track through common sense government policies that will once again restore economic growth and job creation again in America. 

This will not happen as long as Socialists remain if office, which is a primary reason, we must sweep Socialists at all levels of government, including President Obama, out of office in 2012 and 2014.  They are all job killers seeking to make people dependent on government to stay in office.  In that sense, Socialists are destructive of our country.   We have to roll back 100 years of Socialist Creep to recreate an Opportunity Society.   We must become energy independent in the next 20 years to provide for cheap, clean energy by using all of our natural resources, rather than buying oil from the Middle East and other countries.   This alone will create 3 million good paying, often union jobs, to bolster the Middle Class.   We have to take back our country in 2012 and 2014, not just to stop the decline of the Middle Class; but to end the misery, poverty and lower standard of living caused by Obama's Socialist Schemes. 

We can do it.  We must do it preserve our freedom, our nation and way of life for the sake of our children and grandchildren.   We must elect Mitt Romney, the next President of the United States and gain Republican control of both Houses of Congress to prevent the bankruptcy of the United States and get our country back on track.  We must do it for the Middle Class and for all Americans. 

P.S.  To donate to Mitt Romney's campaign to make Obama a one term President, just go to mittromney.com and click on Donate.  Once on the page, look for the line that says, I know my Referrers Information, click on that box and type in 8544, the National Freedom Forum Referral Number to make our voices heard.  Give as much as you can to take back our country.