The Coming Collapse of the US Middle Class (VIDEO)
 

Awesome lecture.

Notice that this lecture took place before the Credit crisis and global financial meltdown of 2008

Warning: open mind, intellectual curiosity, and decent attention span needed:1orglaugh

They've not even begun to figure out that shit is fucked.

I wonder how many people will/would watch an hour long video in a gfy thread lol.

And youtube hosting that wtf?

There are those of us with a larger than goldfish attention span :)

I actually find these videos facinating!

Very interesting, I actually watched it.

Great video. I would also direct your attention to Peter Schiff's videos, since he's predicted this starting in 2002-2003.

in the grand scheme of things the middle class is a very recent phenomena, and possibly artificial, and possibly not really destined to last.

True. But he wasn't the only one.
Robert Prechter wrote about this back in 2001-2002 in the book
Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression


But people usually don`t listen until it is too late

It was a great video, I almost cut it off because of the introduction lady being boring as all hell, but the rest of the video had me glued.

if you actually have the time, you aren't working hard enough.

Interesting conclusion. Don't industrialized societies require an educated class of people that are above the direct producers but below the owners?

Que the post button for BFT3K and Amputate Your Head to make hard left replies saying how they are wrong and its all (Insert random name here) fault and Barry Soetoro a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama is there Lord and Savior.

I'll have to listen to it while I work.

I have long had a belief that the middle class in this country have aided in bringing about their own downfall through the use of credit.

It wasn't too long ago that the average guy making the average wage could afford the average house and car, he could support his wife and kids, take a vacation every year and still have money left for his kids college funds and his retirement. Those days are gone and the main reason is prices. These days many people spend 60-70% of their income just on their mortgage. Companies figured out that if they extend the time to repay credit and give credit accounts and cards, people will buy stuff they can't normally afford. This drives up costs across the board and causes many things to now be out of reach to the average person unless they use credit. And, of course, they do. People don't want to deny themselves anything so they buy it even though they know they are over-paying and can't really afford it.

Those morons are indeed entertaining.

Yea, but I believe Schiff predicted inflation followed by hyperinflation. Prechter predicted an extra step, which is deflation. I doubt we'll have deflation though. At best, we'll have disinflation while the quantitative easing continues.

I was just telling someone that last night.

When I was a kid (20-25 years ago), we had a family of four with a single earner clearing about $550/wk. (he sometimes took on bigger out-of-state projects that netted him more). We had a nice townhouse, nice furnishings, ate out once or twice a week, two new cars, a modest boat, nice vacations, etc. All without any debt other than on the house (mortgage was like $400/mo.) and a note with a good interest rate on one of the vehicles. If they even had a credit card ... I never saw one ... it was used for emergencies only.

If you look at human history then yes a "middle class" is relatively recent and uncommon. It is not artificial though. I also do think it will last, but the days of cheap and easy credit and being able to live well beyond your means with your HELOC are over. People today also have a crushing amount of debt to get out from under.

Yes.

Much like how you teabaggers desperately whine and cry and try to pin the blame on the darky in the white house that kicked your boys ass in the last election. Boohoo barry soetero owned our handpicked warrior, boohoo boohoo waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Obama's a failure, yes, because he's carrying out the same programs the republicans started.

While the truth is all we americans contributed to the destruction of the countries economy, by taking the wrong path over and over again and placing short term greed ahead of long term responsibility.

But you baggers aren't much for accepting repsonsibility - like little girls all you have the balls to do is point fingers and cry.

You sadsack whiners probably wont even win the next WH election when it's being handed to you on a plate.

And you have no policies, so what the fuck are you going to do about the end of the middle class?

cue the endless whines and gutless fingerpointing.

Funny how as the government grows the middle class shrinks....

So it sounds like women should just stay home and take care of there kids and quit spending all us mens money, taking our jobs.

i blame the teabaggery

That was during the time when the US was still a heavy producer as opposed to now--one of the world's biggest debtors.

You mean like continuously blaming Bush and the Republicans for all of Obama's and the Democrat's fuckups. Your stupidity and hypocrisy is hilarious.

Just watched it to end. Fantastic video.

Of course we don't have the drain you Americans have with the broken health system and health insurance scam, but many of the other factors definitely ring true. The debt part was particularly disturbing.

I think many developed countries got a wakeup call with the Greek debt crisis. That's why the UK and many EU countries are embarking on austerity measures. Hasn't caught on in the US yet but if there's a change in administrations, I suspect austerity/debt reduction might factor heavily in the agenda.

great read thanks everyone

If i was a Tea Party supporter than i could see how your comments would apply to me, but im not so they don't.

Tip: Making blind assumptions will always make one look foolish.

What isn't mentioned much in the media is the sizable number of INDEPENDENTS in the tea party movement.

The middle class is losing out because it has little representation. Labor unions are weak. Middle class tax dollars go to business subsidies, here and abroad. Trickle down economics is a myth, perpetrated by those who would use your money for their benefit.

Even here in the media the Tea Party is referred to as radicals and generally nutjobs.

I am lucky to actually know a couple of peeps who actually attend the rallies (including a journo mate of mine), and it couldn't be further from the truth. Apparently the media in general latches on to the 1% of idiots at the tea party rallies and ignores the rest.

Welcome to the world of the liberal media. And those leftist morons have the balls to call sources like fox news, bullshit.

This lecture should be getting more attention from the media. The way the economy is structured now, people are working more earning less, more people per family are working more, but there's less and less money left over. Family economics is extremely risky now and is facing implosion. See 28:00 and further. Troubling shit. Pay attention to what she says about losing jobs and mortgages. Perfect storm. :(

Ron Paul was right. The worst evil the government has done is to ass rape the value of the dollar through inflationary policies. Notice the analysis in the video is AFTER the gold standard was abandoned.

WOW!

That is utterly frightening. I have been watching a bit of US news recently and am seeing the same sort of rubbishing of warnings, and after watching that video am starting to wonder if maybe these warnings we are getting about a double dip recession etc are credible or not.

I hope none of those idiot commentators still have a job.

research more. most of schiff's predictions have been wrong.

stopped clock right twice a day ...

Well all of Obama's admin have been wrong... I cant wait for him to be right. Im loving this "summer of recovery" and 7.9% unemployment...

Good video, thank you. She is right on the money.

The next bubble that bursts will be commercial real estate. Then another massive recession. We're just seeing the tip if this iceberg.

No one can save us, and certainly not a community organizer.

I will say this about her "family finance chart" :

True, but I think everything goes back to real-estate.

People need more money to rent or buy and thus need more education to land a
job with high pay. Education is even higher because the student has to pay for housing.
Businesses have to pay higher property leases and have to charge more.
Insurance companies have to charge more so they can cover the claimants mortgage/rent. People need a car because they can't afford housing close to their
job. People need two cars because they need two jobs to pay for the house that's
not close to the job.

etc......

The Big Picture guy posted about a new article from the FT - more on the decline of the middle class.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/08...-middle-class/

===================================
Dubbed ?median wage stagnation? by economists, the annual incomes of the bottom 90 per cent of US families have been essentially flat since 1973 ? having risen by only 10 per cent in real terms over the past 37 years. That means most Americans have been treading water for more than a generation.

...

In the last expansion, which started in January 2002 and ended in December 2007, the median US household income dropped by $2,000 ? the first ever instance where most Americans were worse off at the end of a cycle than at the start. Worse is that the long era of stagnating incomes has been accompanied by something profoundly un-American: declining income mobility.?
====================================

FT has been publishing some good stuff, trying to become the go-to source for economics news as the WSJ loses credibility.

That was an enjoyable watch from start to finish.


Brad

Actually, most have been right, and others have been delayed by government intervention. Try again.