Conservative Review:
Democrats, Republicans, and Independents can agree on one thing: a Hillary Clinton presidency will merely be an extension of the Obama Administration. In fact, her policies mostly reflect that.
At the Democratic Convention tonight, it has to make you wonder how in fact Biden can really try to convince the American public that the Democrats will be saviors to the middle class. The reality is that Obama’s policies are a disaster for the middle class, and Clinton’s will be, too.
There was one point in Obama’s presidency where the middle class was better off – and that was before he took office. It’s been downhill ever since. Nearly 85 months have passed since the recession ended, but yet, the median income in America is still 6 percent less than it was in 2007.
A recent Pew Research report titled, “The American Middle Class is Losing Ground,” paints a bleak picture for middle America. Pew researchers write, “After more than four decades of serving as the nation’s economic majority, the American middle class is now matched in number by those in the economic tiers above and below it.” Today, the middle class earns only 43 percent of the total U.S. income, the smallest share since the 1970s.
Pew’s report also notes, “[M]iddle-income Americans have fallen further behind financially in the new century… “and their median wealth (assets minus debts) fell by 28 percent from 2001 to 2013 (mostly during and after the financial crisis).”
Middle America is making less, while losing more wealth. Sounds great, huh?
Perhaps most troubling is the number of middle income families that have slid into the low-income threshold. The Washington Post highlighted this phenomenon in an article titled, “Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty.” Yes, more children today come from low-income families. That is a fact that hasn’t been breached for more than 50 years.
A separate Pew Research analysis concluded that of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas in the nation, 203 showed higher poverty in middle income families.
Few households are growing richer; most are growing poorer.
Take a moment to imagine the economic situation where 51 percent of all public school children in America come from homes that are eligible for federal welfare. Research shows that poor children have a higher levels of school dropout rates and fewer complete college – which leads to a repetitive cycle of poverty, substandard living, and crime.
Obama, Biden, and Clinton – they all have plenty of flashy employment statistics from the past seven years. Yet, most Americans will agree with my analysis: Americans and the middle class are hurting.
Since the recession, the middle class has been hurt the most. Fewer middle income males are working compared to the 1980s. Sadly, middle income jobs that were lost during the financial crisis never returned, but were instead replaced by low-income jobs. Even the Federal Reserve highlighted this concern, saying, “The vast majority of job losses during the recession were in middle-income occupations, and they’ve largely been replaced by low-wage jobs.”