When Seeing Ain't Believing, Somebody's Lying! America's White Underclass

[divideandconquer]

When Seeing Ain't Believing, Somebody's Lying!
America's White Underclass

By JOE BAGEANT

"White underclass” is a term I’ve used often in my writing, and most American readers seem to know what I mean. They’ve got eyes and live in the same nation I do. But in a sudden burst of journalistic responsibility, I decided that if I am going to throw around the word underclass, then I should offer some clearer, perhaps more scientific definition.

So I started writing this with a pile of published research papers before me. Now they are in the trash can by my side. Looking down on them, I can see the gobbledygook titles, the stuff of which government policy and political platforms are made. They run together in slurry of the language of our society’s commissars: Concerning-Prevalence-Growth-and-Dynamics-Concentrated Urban Poverty Areas- block-level vs. tract-level segregation-800-tract-tables-urban abstracts-Defining-and-Measuring-the-Underclass-from-The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management-statistical-summary-of …

---------------------snip------------------------

We’re finally starting to hear a little discussion about the white underclass in this country. Mainly because so many middle class folks are terrified of falling into it. Frankly, I hope they do. We’ve got room for them. All the lousy, humiliating jobs have not yet been outsourced. The Devil still has plenty for them to do down here.

Call all of this anecdotal evidence. You won’t be the first. I was on a National Public Radio show last year with a couple of political consultants, demographers as I remember. One, a lady, was obviously part of the Democratic political syndicate, the other was part of the Republican political mob. The Democratic expert said dismissively of my remarks, “Well! Some people here seem to believe anecdotal evidence is relevant.” Meaning me. I held my tongue. But what I wanted to say was this:

Sister, most of us live anecdotal lives in an anecdotal world. We survive by our wits and observations, some casual, others vital to our sustenance. That plus daily experience, be it good bad or ugly as the ass end of a razorback hog. And what we see happening to us and others around us is what we know as life, the on-the-ground stuff we must deal with or be dealt out of the game. There’s no time for rigorous scientific analysis. Nor need. We can see the guy next door who’s drinking himself to death because, “I never did have a good job, just heavy labor, but now I’m all busted up, got no insurance and no job and it looks like I’ll never have another one and I’ve got four more years to go before Social Security.” He doesn’t need scientific proof. He doesn’t need another job either. He needs a cold beer, a soft armchair, some Tylenol PM and a modest guarantee of security for the rest of his life. Freedom from fear and toil and illness.

And furthermore, Sister, we cannot see much evidence that other, more elite people’s scientific analysis of our lives has ever benefited us much. When you’re fucked, you know it. You don’t need scientific verification.

I wanted to say that on the radio. But I didn’t. The little white guy mojo voice in my head told me not to. So I just laughed good naturedly. Like any other good American.

May God forgive me.
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<http://www.counterpunch.org/bageant07172009.html>

Someone said I shouldn't use the term "white underclass" on DU as it will make them vote Republican because I'm an "elitist".

When is there going to be a reality check about the actual class warfare in this "downbound train" of a nation?

[truedelphi]

1. Kudos for yr work on this issue. Of all the expressions now

used by experts, the phrase "Anecdotal" is the one I would most like to see put out of service.

This word did not exist twenty five years ago. Except as a term relating to "Pleasant stories and interesting tales." but as activists began to fight back against those who claim that the earth is not undergoing climate change, that pesticides are not to be used like candy, that pharmaceutical drugs should be independently tested and so on, the Powers that Be feel the heat.

Now "anecdotal" has come to have this enforced meaning such that no one is supposed to believe what they experience, what they see, hear, taste, smell etc. The Powers that Be have basically extinguished the notion of inductive reasoning.

Everything has to be replicated in a laboratory and since 90% of all the labs in this nation are operated by Corporate Sponsored monies, not much truth comes out of them.

I am now in the habit of saying to anyone using that expression on me - "the very basics and framework of every science we have to date have come about by many observations that are then tested out in a laboratory setting. But observations are valid, until proven otherwise, and cannot be dismissed with a phrase that has been created by the Powers that Be as they are try so very, very desperately to poison our bodies and the planet, as they stand to profit from that poisoning."

[enlightenment]

4. The word - and the meaning - have been around

for a lot longer than 25 years, but I agree that it has become a bludgeon to silence the voices of experience.

[ejpoeta]

7. i think the op means it has only been used in its current form for that long.

they use it now to insinuate that our reality is just made up and not real. but we live it every day. it is real for real people who live in the real world.

[Waiting For Everyman]

14. I so agree with you.

To me, "anecdotal" means "I don't have to count what you say" or "I can ignore that". Good point about science and observations. We are in a beancounter mentality now - only what's quantified exists.

Gee, that's working out so well for us. I fault the U. of Chicago for most of our woes, for turning out too many people who think like MBAs. j/k Of course other universities do too.

[Ghost Dog]

15. Rather than 'anecdotal', say 'ethnomethodological'?

Ethnomethodology is a perspective within sociology that focuses on the way people make sense of their everyday world. People are seen as rational actors, but employ practical reasoning rather than formal logic to make sense of and function in society. The theory argues that human society is entirely dependent on these methods of achieving and displaying understanding. The approach was developed by Harold Garfinkel, based on Alfred Schütz's phenomenological reconstruction of Max Weber's verstehen sociology.

Like Durkheim, the fundamental sociological phenomenon for ethnomethodologists is the social fact. But, unlike Durkheim, the social fact is not external of the individual. The social fact is the product of the social member's methodological activities; it is their understanding of their everyday world. Members, here, are understood not simply as individuals but any social entity (i.e., individuals and organizations) that can produce a social fact. In short, members of society (individuals and organizations) make sense of and function in society by creating social facts or understandings of how society works. In this sense, ethnomethodology is at the same time both macro and micro oriented in that members can produce social facts at either level, for either the personal structure (the individual's level of everyday meaning) or the organizational/institutional structure (the organization's level of everyday meaning).

/... http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sociological_Theory/Ethnomethodology

[Just One Woman]

2. true

When 84% of the money is owned by 1%-2% of the people, we have class warfare.

[lib2DaBone]

3. I love Joe Bageant... he knows how the Repukes have destroyed the middle class..

We are all underclass...as the corporations suck the life out of every living thing in in America.

[clarence swinney]

5. Rape of Middle Class since 1980

1980 to 2007
20 years Conservative Presidents
18 years Conservative Senate
12 years Conservative House
6 years Total Conservative Control

Redistribution of Wealth to top 20%. From 1981-2008

Folk! It was downhill slide for Middle Class.

From 1945 to 1980 distribution was even. Each percentile increased in Income-Wealth almost evenly(percentage). Economist called it the Picket Fence Distribution. Reagan began Step Ladder Distribution with top step going into outer space. 60% Tax Cut for 1% was his Trojan Horse to sell it per his OMB David Stockman. 1% gained 80% of Total Financial Wealth 1980-1989.
From 20% to 36%.

FACTS---numbers rounded-

Financial Wealth owned by 1%
1946---30% of Total Wealth
1980—20%--a 33% decline due to Estate Tax and High Top Income Tax Rate.
1989---36%--Reagan Tax Cut(60%) got Rich Increase of 80% of Total Wealth
2007---43%

2007—BAD NEWS AMERICA--
1% owned 40% of all Stocks
10% owned 80% of all stocks
Bottom 30% owned 18%
20% owned 93% of Total Financial Wealth
In people terms--(30 Million=93%-- vs-- 120 Million=7%) A democracy?? Third World? Shameful! Disgraceful!

Wall Street history before 1980 was to build American businesses and American jobs with growth of Middle Class.

THENCE COMETH CONSERVATISM roll dem dice-- 1920's Deja vu

1980-2007—1% Income Increased by 170%. 2500 Billion in Tax Cuts for them

Most Major corporations are owned by WALL STREET RICH MEN CASINO
They decide to send millions of jobs overseas.

In 1945, Corporations paid 35.4% of federal revenues and 7.4% in 2003
In 2007, Corporations paid an average of 16% of profit in federal taxes.
In 2000, 45% of corporations with revenue over 50 million paid NO federal tax
In April 2010—Exxon filed to pay no 2009 taxes on Billions of profit

Seven Wall Street Banks control 75% of all Bank Deposits in America.
Two control 20%.

Think that is not POWER???
Think that cannot buy our Government?

FACT CHECK

In 8 years of Bush with 6 years of Total Control by so-called Conservatives

BAILOUT—enriched Big Gamblers big time
$120 Billion went to Wall Street Gamblers
$18 Billion went to working class
Food Stamp Families--Increased 90% from 1980 to 2005 to 40 million families.
Shame on you America! Christ is crying!

They (wall street rich) created a Net New Jobs of 31,000 per month under Bush.
In the past Wall Street created jobs by using investors money to build new businesses and increase current ones to add jobs. Gambling creates no new jobs.
Net Job Creation is take jobs created and subtract 2,300,000 sent to China under Bush 8 years

25 Hedge Fund Managers earned over one billion each in 2009 and paid 15% Tax Rate.
The income of 25 could have hired 658,00 new teachers.
This was during Worst Republican Recession in History.
Each “Significant” Recession in 20th was under R president
Tax rate on richest 400 is 15%. Paid 16% on effective income.
Coal Miners Rate is 28%.
Republicans scream cut it cut it cut it!!! Are they dumb or just insane?
They enriched the Top 1% so much NYT wrote-”Today, the Rich do not recognize the New Rich”
It was not productive enrichment.--did not build new businesses--expand current ones-create jobs--Vegas type Gambling--.I bet up you bet down.

Top 1% got 60% Tax Cut
Gamblers Tax Rate cut for 28% to 15%
Ultra Rich Estate Tax took huge cut
Revenue Sharing transferred off the Rich to Middle Class
Killing Industry stock value zoomed for ultra rich
Credit Card profits off Middle Class zoomed for Rich.

31,000 jobs.Why? That is NET. You take the new jobs created and subtract the ones sent to China (2,300,000) during Bush 8 years.

31,000! Wow!
Twenty Years of Three so called Conservative Presidents created an average of 99,000 Net New Jobs per Month.
Twelve Years of Carter + Clinton got 222,000 per month.

Bush took over after Clinton had created 237,000 Net New Jobs per month.
Reagan took Carter 218,000 net new jobs down to 175,000 per month.

Clinton left Bush a spending of 1800 B Per Year.
Bush doubled it to 3600 B.

Bush inherited a 5700B Debt from Clinton.
He took it to 11,900B
His big borrowing (6200B)enriched the ultra Rich- created many multi billionaires.

Had he not given the rich Huge Tax Cuts he would have had a huge surplus.
His Tax Cuts for Rich deprived Treasury of $8500B of Revenue.
No Tax Cuts and Bush would have had a $2300B Surplus.

20 years of 3 conservative presidents had this Horrible record.
Took the Debt of less than 1000B after 200 years and added on 9000B.
In 2009 they are spinning big time to blame Obama for huge debt.
Conservatives will spend millions to cover up their Big Recession.

Much of that 9000B Debt add-on went to WALL STREET GAMBLERS.
How else did we go from 10 Billionaires in 1980 to 403”

The people do not know what has happened to them.
Shhh! Do not awaken sleeping Democrats.
Wearing Wall Street Silencers $$$$$.

Forbes list of 400 Richest reveals how many became Billionaires via corporate
takeovers and Hedge Gambling- 403 Multi-Billionaires—Avg Worth 3B
(1980=10Billionires)----(1989=51)-----(2009=403)

Spectrum reports-7.8 Million families with worth over one million in 2009 up from 6.7 million a year earlier S&P up 68% over past twelve months—roll dem dice
4,2% pay in top bracket. Earn $372,000 up to 2000 million(2 billion)

How many Net new jobs created?
Carter + Clinton=222,000 per month
Reagan+Bush I+Bush II= 99,000

2500 Billion in Reagan + Bush Tax Cuts= many Billionaires

Right Wingers yell--- Rich Pay most of taxes.
Income Taxes!Yes! They have most of the income.
From 1997 to 2001 the rich 1% took 24% of total national individual income “growth”\
CBO study of 2003 distribution of corporate profits—Top Income Earners-1% took 49%--5% took 76%-- bottom 80% took 8%

2007—1% got 23.5% of total individual income
In 1977 Capital Gains Tax was 39.8% now 15%
Republicans look out for Country Club/Wall Street po folks!!

Tax Cuts have Consequences. Some Good. Some bad. Some Horrible.
.Yet! Conservatives transferred much of taxation (fed-state-local) from Rich to Middle Class. Reagan elimination of REVENUE SHARING a disaster for Middle Class where taxes were transferred from Rich Income taxes to Middle Class in State and Local Taxes. Five Cent Gas increase. Tax on Payroll (SS)Income.

Was it a Designed Act of taxation transfer by Conservatives.

In 2008 the Middle Class paid about 30% of nominal Income in Federal-State-Local Taxes.
Top 10% paid 30% also. Progressive tax system?

Social Security Tax Increase in 1983 was it designed to hit the Middle Class and ease on the rich?

Greenspan + Reagan + Democratic House + Republican Senate. Payroll Tax Increase on Middle Class.

Was Destruction of S&Ls a deliberate act of wealth transfer from 400 local investors to individual Rich on Wall Street? Could anyone be that evil? Yes!

Key actor Michael Milken became a Multiple (10) Billionaire with income of 550 Million in one year from raiding S&L deposits (plus) for his Rich Corporate Raiders on Wall Street.

Raiders like Perelman(worth 10B) and Ichan(worth 10B) became multiple Billionaires.
Sweat of Brow? Ho Ho. Coal miner pays 28% Tax Rate destructive investors pay 15%.

Bush I had to borrow 140 Billion on 40 year bonds to pay for the raids on S&L's by Wall Streeters.
140B creates many Billionaires and Millionaires. Depositors money was used by those Corporate Raiders and bankrupted the S&L then the government pay off to depositors by Federal Deposit Insurance created Debt for Middle Class. Bush I said “Depositors will not lose one nickel”.
Most had less than $50,0 the guarantee by FDIC.. Rich got all. Sound like another Bush 2008 Bailout.

The Tax Panel estimates that in 2010 the top 1 million with incomes exceeding $500,000 will earn 241 Billion more than 80 Million who will earn under $40,000.
Three involved in 9 conflicts to Carter + Clinton one.
Invaded two of poorest nations on earth. Unarmed with no tanks-planes or missiles.
Other nations viewed us as Big Bully.

CHRIST, WHERE ARE THOU? Poor Poor Poor Poor. Care For The Least. Share Share.

RAPE OF MIDDLE CLASS 1980-2007

Same ideology gave us Great Depression now Great Recession.

It is not a Depression due to:

Democratic Social Safety Nets such as
Social Security and Medicare and Unemployment Insurance

Only the uninformed vote to send conservatives to Washington.

Some type of Revolt will take place in next decade.

Democrats will continue to allow Conservatives with their huge right wing talk shows spreading lies to blame them. Rush Dimbaugh is allowed 15 hours per week to spread his lies to gullible people.

Democrats need a national Megaphone informing all the people as to what has been done and how they have been RAPED by a few million RICH on Wall Street who have taken their Wealth.

A vote to send a Conservative to Washington is a Dumb Vote.

I ask one thing.

PROVE ME WRONG. With numbers and facts not usual vile name calling
Political Research Historian since 1991 on Reagan-Clinton-Bush administrations. Over 400,000 pages of documentation.

[clarence swinney]

6. sorry

I apologize for the length

[Waiting For Everyman]

13. Great info, that should be an OP in itself. n/t

[Panaconda]

8. K&R n/t

[thunder rising]

9. When you’re fucked, you know it. You don’t need scientific verification. (roflmao)

It's so sad and sooooo true. I dodged a .308 bullet headed for my nose and I feel for everybody that didn't get to flinch in time.

[Starry Messenger]

10. The middle class is no longer deemed useful to the capitalists.

I'm afraid many more happy illusions are going to be shattered soon. If you aren't needed, you are offloaded. There was a GOP guy who recently used the phrase "push down the middle class". It's more like a hard shove.

[Petrushka]

11. Thanks for the link.

K&R
:kick:

[Waiting For Everyman]

12. A terrific article, thank you!

"Millions of American women are in poverty because they are paid poverty wages. I could be wrong, I often am, but there seems to be a connection between poverty and money."

That was so great!

I'm 60 years old, and it seems from what I've seen that we traded a great way of life for all of us, for a great back yard for ourselves.

That's REAL dumb. But when dumb people have too much money (the top 1%) they do bad things with it. That's MY armchair observation (like Joe's). That's why I believe in a 90% tax rate at the top tier. That keeps the game honest. It keeps too much from coagulating in the pipeline. The Reagan years proved that nothing comes down from the top. What goes there, stays there (unless the government says "no").

The elites are so artificial today. They don't know much about reality at all. Yet they're driving the bus. (Might as well be blindfolded.)

What keeps me sane is that by all probability, some moron somewhere should've blown us all up with a nuke by accident back in the Cold War. The fact that that didn't happen tells me that something (call it what you will) is looking out for us... because that surely would've happened otherwise.

[maryf]

16. k&r nt

[Nikia]

17. I don't understand why this has to be anecdotal

We can measure unemployment and droppig out of the labor force. We can measure income. We can measure arrests and births to the unmarried. We can measure education attainment. By doing this, we can determine that whites are increasingly underclass as well.

[ElboRuum]

19. Anecdotal is code for...

...unquantified and in direct contravention of what my study indicates. The point being made is that it being anecdotal does not discount its relevance. The fact is that what he thought (what he should have said given the opportunity) is true, that real people live anecdotal lives with anecdotal problems and anecdotal successes, that the realities of life in this country are not based upon rigorous studies or sanitary statistics and that alone cannot make the collective experience of individuals less real.

[Nikia]

21. People's experiences are valid, but without data

It is hard to argue that something is a large problem. Some people are unlucky or might have circumstances that are relatively rare in the general population. A coin might land tails up four times in a row.
The problems that the article speaks about do have supporting data. We can say that his neighbor isn't just unlucky, he is part of a larger trend.
I know that I'm probably missing the point. I am scientifically trained. I make observations, which are anectdotal. Then I look for supporting data. Regarding large groups of people, we usually cannot do an experiment if the data isn't available. Sometimes we have to ask different questions though.

[ElboRuum]

25. With due respect.

I appreciate the rigors of scientific inquiry. But I do know when it is time to put down the pad and the paper and relate to human problems without the dispassion that scientific inquiry demands. For example, economists can flagellate themselves with Wall Street views of the economic recovery, but it doesn't take a scientist (rocket or otherwise) to recognize that without jobs people don't spend. Do I need governmental statistical studies (outside of the unemployment rate) to say, "generally, I don't spend if I have no income." That's anecdotal. I know many people who would say the same thing. Again, anecdotal. Anecdotal, but also completely rational from the standpoint of a consumer. And I certainly don't need some policy wonk waxing rhapsodic about the need for job creation to know that based upon personal experience, the ones who need to create the jobs aren't in any big hurry to do it.

You see, it really isn't that damn hard to argue that without reams of statistical data, we all know that having jobs stimulates the economy, and not having them slows it down.

I don't need to understand the equations of gravity and kinematics to learn how to throw a ball. Similarly, I don't need statistical analyses to tell you that there are problems with many things in this country, what they are, or what is worth trying in order to remedy them. Which was entirely the point, problems don't go away or don't exist just because the "data isn't available to support them" and you simply can't ignore some problems until there is enough data to support them. We live our lives in, from the standpoint of scientific rigor, a very sloppy, anecdotal way, rife with leaps of logic, intrusions of personal experience, and in an absence of logical controls. And we certainly do not put things into action only after we have vetted our assertion with the same rigor as a scientist would require in the proof of theory. No, we need to be a little sloppy there as well.

[truedelphi]

26. But the Powers that Be have worked hard to ensure that the

Generations coming up will be sure and discount anything but Big Corporate or Big Government-approved doctrines.

When The Powers that Be need to have something happen, as when they needed to see that NO restrictions on the GM foods' process come about, they had ONE MAN decree that the GM food was similar, to conventional food,a nd therefore SAFE! Even though we won't know for a full decade or more the exact health risks these foods cause. Mike Taylor offers up the "Doctrine of Equivalency" that states that GM food is so similar to conventional food that no one needs to worry.

But when ten thousand people organize and sign petitions and depositions that their kids were healthy until the day of the MMR shot, they are told that their observations do not count.
Even though they have videos of their kids developing normally before the shot.

That petition effort did kick the Big Pharma people in the butt - they now make sure that a baby gets its most dangerous shot, the Hep shot, within twenty four hours of its birth, so no parent will have proof that a vaccine injured their child with migraines, with paralysis or with death. Should any problem occur, the vaccine manufacturer can say, "You have no proof your infant wasn't born unhealthy." And the parent will have no proof.

[The Uncola]

18. This describes me...

... almost to a tee:

“I never did have a good job, just heavy labor, but now I’m all busted up, got no insurance and no job and it looks like I’ll never have another one and I’ve got four more years to go before Social Security.”

.. 'cept for me it's eight years and I've avoided the pitfall of drinking too much. I truly feel that my Nation, my society, and even the political party I have supported all my life, has tossed me aside in my time of need, after using my best years for their gain. And then have the audacity to tell me to just shut up and take it without making waves for them...

You damn right I'm pissed, not that it will be noticed by those who could make a difference for me, they're too busy kissing corporate ass and "triangulating" how to keep their own cushy jobs to be bothered doing a damn thing for us commoners.

[JNelson6563]

20. So the Democratic Party is a crime syndicate?

Wow.

And yeah, when we the people are fucked, we know it. I sure would've made that point on the radio, why oh why didn't the author?

Julie

[McCamy Taylor]

22. Serious studies of poverty and its effects ARE being done and written.

Just not by the corporate media or politicans. Look at (serious) public health literature. Look at the Liberation Theologists. There are even (serious) public health studies of poverty based upon what some would call "anecdotal" experience, i.e. the author records interviews.

[JDPriestly]

23. I went to a party with white, middle class folks yesterday.

Bright youngish, middle-aged people, computer technicians, people with practical skills in other areas and intellectuals were to a surprising extent -- unemployed or underemployed. And ALL OF THEM WERE WHITE (at least as far as I could tell, but I live in LA where ethnic, racial lines are not so clear) and mostly healthy males.

Wow! Four years ago, joblessness had a stigma. People would say, "I'm between jobs," or "I'm looking for work." Now, they say, "I lost my job a year and a half ago. I've got X number of months on unemployment left, and I'm really looking for a job." But there is a sense of loss and defeat in the voice, in the tone. It's unbelievable.

I don't talk about these things with people that often. We are talking about middle-class people who feel like they are falling into the "white trash" category. The OP is correct about this. With the job losses and the foreclosures, middle class white folks who are assumed to be pretty safe in the economic and social scheme are really scared. They are hurting.

I don't think that anyone in D.C. on either side of the aisle sees that this is happening. There is no discussion of it. There are no plans to deal with what is going on -- on either side. Sorry, but this is the truth as I see it.

[DeSwiss]

24. K&R

Under God, with fees and compound interest for all

From the outset, capitalism was always about the theft of the people's sustenance. It was bound to lead to the ultimate theft -- the final looting of the source of their sustenance -- nature. Now that capitalism has eaten its own seed corn, the show is just about over, with the nastiest scenes yet to play out around water, carbon energy (or anything that expends energy), soil and oxygen. For the near future however, it will continue to play out around money.

As the economy slowly implodes, money will become more volatile stuff than it already is. The value and availability of money is sure to fluctuate wildly. Most people don't have the luxury of escaping the money economy, so they will be held hostage and milked hard again by the same people who just drained them in the bailouts. As usual, the government will be right there to see that everybody plays by the rules. Those who have always benefited by capitalism's rules will benefit more. That cadre of "money professionals" which holds captive the nation's money supply, and runs things according to the rules of money, can never lose money. It writes the rules. And rewrites them when it suits the money elite's interests.

Capitalism, the Christian god, democracy, the Constitution. It's all one ball of wax, one set of rules in the American national psyche. Thus, the money masters behind the curtain will write The New Rules, the new tablets of supreme law, and call them Reform. There will be rejoicing that "the will of the people" has once again moved upon the land, and that the democracy's scripture has once again been delivered by the unseen hand of God.

~ http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2010/07/waltzing.html">Joe Bageant, "Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball"

[dan_87]

27. neat

interesting perspective

[scarletwoman]

28. Kick - because more people ought to read Joe Bageant. (nt)