Charts: income equality and the declining middle class

[ProSense]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/





http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/12/403324/krueger-income-inequality-envy/

[Romulox]

1. Worse or better since 2008? nt

[ProSense]

2. Impossible

"Worse or better since 2008?"

...to tell from the first chart because it's through 2007.

Obviously from the second chart, the middle class situation hasn't improved.

[Cali_Democrat]

16. Not only has it not improved...

it has gotten worse.

[ProSense]

18. Clearly

"Not only has it not improved..."

...and it certainly wasn't going to improve in trying to recover from one of the worst economic crises in more than 70 years.

That's the reality. It's also possible the question was rhetorical.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. Food stamp participation also continues to rise

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Paper-Economy/2012/0110/Food-stamp-use-still-rising-despite-good-jobs-news

[ProSense]

20. True

"Food stamp participation also continues to rise"

...and it would have been a severe failure of government if the reverse had been true during the worse economic crisis in decades.



The 2009 Recovery Act — Even Better in Preventing Poverty Than We Thought
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/the-2009-recovery-act-%e2%80%94-even-better-in-preventing-poverty-than-we-thought/

[Cali_Democrat]

21. Obama just replaced his bankster chief of staff with another bankster

Daley worked at JPMorgan and Lew worked for Citigroup.

[ProSense]

22. I

"Obama just replaced his bankster chief of staff with another bankster"

...can't be outraged that a person confirmed by the Senate as OMB Director more than a year ago is moving to become Chief of Staff.

Lew has been quoted and cited in discussions about Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for more than a year.

FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenburg Public Policy Center, wrongly attacked a number of prominent Democrats for correctly pointing out that Social Security does not contribute to the deficit. The people attacked, included New York Senator Charles Schumer, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, and President Obama’s Budget Director Jacob Lew, who had all correctly pointed out that Social Security does not contribute to the budget deficit.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/factcheck-gets-it-wrong-on-social-security-and-the-deficit

[Cali_Democrat]

25. Obama supported free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama

The US chamber of commerce vigorously supported these same agreements. Free trade has decimated the middle class since the passing of NAFTA.

[ProSense]

26. Thus far

"Obama supported free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama...The US chamber of commerce vigorously supported these same agreements. Free trade has decimated the middle class since the passing of NAFTA. "

Obama's policies haven't "decimated the middle class." In fact, he saved the auto industry and ushered in a rebound of manufacturing (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002125381 )

He also showed that enforcing trade agreements work.

WTO Upholds Obama’s Tire Industry Relief Decision

The World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Appellate Body yesterday upheld President Obama’s decision based on U.S. trade law to provide relief for American tire industry workers against surging imports from China of passenger and light truck tires.

In September 2009, Obama became the first president to enforce U.S. trade law when he imposed tariffs to protect domestic workers against a surge in tire imports from China. The original complaint came from the United Steelworkers (USW), and Obama’s decision led to a rebound in the tire industry.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2011/09/06/wto-upholds-obamas-tire-industry-relief-decision/

Are you trying to prove that the decline shown in the OP is Obama's fault?

[Cali_Democrat]

27. Boehner, McConnell Applaud Obama’s Free-Trade Pacts:

http://www.rollcall.com/news/house_gop_leaders_applaud_obama_free_trade_agreements-209157-1.html

[ProSense]

28. So? n/t

[Cali_Democrat]

29. U.S. Chamber Hails Passage of Free Trade Agreements

http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2011/october/us-chamber-hails-passage-free-trade-agreements

[JDPriestly]

24. We need to awaken American's awareness of the benefits

we would enjoy if we had better job and trade policies. American workers should be helped to make the transition into new, better jobs when they lose their old ones. Of course, I am assuming that better jobs exist. Unfortunately, they will not exist until we provide big, big incentives for those entrepreneurs who create good jobs here and big, big penalties on vulture capitalists who destroy the jobs and lives of working people for their own profit.

There is a middle ground between the kind of destructive capitalism that Romney and Ron Paul advocate and a really innovative capitalism that creates jobs and improves people's lives.

[woo me with science]

7. "Does he have to have a plan"

apparently, that is the response to my query.

[ProSense]

3. Kick! n/t

[woo me with science]

4. What's the plan (sorry, my question mark is not working today)

I have seen several posts today indicating that Obama plans to make income inequality the centerpiece of his campaign, but so far none of them have mentioned policy at all.

What is his plan to do this. are there major new proposals coming, or can we expect a continuation of what we've gotten so far.

[ProSense]

5. Does

"What's the plan"

...he have to have a plan? If it's good enough for Ron Paul to say stuff and have that be good enough, why can't Obama do the same?

Snark aside, here's the clip of Alan Krueger on the issue (it's from the Think Progress link in the OP).

[woo me with science]

6. "Does he have to have a plan"

Okay. Thanks for the response.

[ProSense]

8. Well

"Okay. Thanks for the response. "

...you're welcome. Do take the time to watch the clip and read more at Think Progress.

[woo me with science]

9. The computer I"m on right now doesn't play videos.

It doesn't even have a question mark.

This is a discussion board, so maybe you could tell me about the plan instead of sending me off to watch videos.

You don't have to go into detail, but I am very interested in any new major proposals.

[ProSense]

10. OK

Krueger explains that decades of economic policy, including tax policy, created the problem and those are things that the administration is looking at.

There is more at the link, including a transcript of the comment.

Also, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002158556

[woo me with science]

11. I don't see any transcript.

The video link just goes to youtube, and there is no transcript there.

The second link goes to the thread I already replied on. The link from that thread goes to an article that says nothing about anything Obama is proposing.

Please, can you simply tell me what the plan is, just the major proposals, since decreasing income inequality is going to be the centerpiece of his campaign.

[ProSense]

12. When

"The video link just goes to youtube, and there is no transcript there"

...I said, "Do take the time to watch the clip and read more at Think Progress," I meant the link in the OP.

Here: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/12/403324/krueger-income-inequality-envy/

[woo me with science]

14. This is the only transcript I see, and it has nothing in it:

"The trends that have taken place in the U.S. over the last three decades are particularly of concern to economists and others. We’ve seen a steady decline, erosion, in the size of the middle class. That’s not good for the economy. That’s not good for all segments of American society. And I think some of [the government's] policies have exacerbated that…There are certainly legitimate policy issues, and as the President’s economic adviser, it’s certainly something that we’re focused on. I don’t think this is an issue about envy at all. I think we’d like to see all segments of society do well. The President has said ‘when all Americans do well, America does well.’ The accumulating evidence suggests that the erosion of the middle class has been bad for the economy."


I don't see anything on that page saying what he actually wants to do. Only that he wants to solve income inequality, but it doesn't say how.

Can you show me what you wanted me to see in that link.

[MrCoffee]

13. There is no plan, there are no proposals

Krueger is just carrying water. Here's the full extent of Kreuger's quote from ProSense's link:

"The trends that have taken place in the U.S. over the last three decades are particularly of concern to economists and others. We’ve seen a steady decline, erosion, in the size of the middle class. That’s not good for the economy. That’s not good for all segments of American society. And I think some of [the government's] policies have exacerbated that…There are certainly legitimate policy issues, and as the President’s economic adviser, it’s certainly something that we’re focused on. I don’t think this is an issue about envy at all. I think we’d like to see all segments of society do well. The President has said ‘when all Americans do well, America does well.’ The accumulating evidence suggests that the erosion of the middle class has been bad for the economy."

[woo me with science]

15. It is frustrating to follow a link and find nothing of substance.

Thank you for confirming what I thought I was (not) seeing. This thread appears to have been a waste of time.

[MrCoffee]

17. This is simply stockpiling links

This is the third or fourth post today regarding Krueger and the income inequality speech that will later be used in a barrage of links.

Yawn.

[JDPriestly]

23. The slippery, slippery slope.

And Mitt Romney and the Republicans (and some Democrats) in Congress contributed generously to the decline in wages and well-being of the American middle class.

This is the story we need to tell.