Author Topic: The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major US Cities (Read 2242 times)

RomanCatholic1953 · « **on:** April 27, 2017, 09:19:12 PM »

Animation: The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major U.S. Cities
JEFF DESJARDINS
on April 18, 2017 at 12:41 pm

946

SHARES

Twitter Facebook Reddit

When future historians look back at the beginning of the 21st century, they’ll note that we grappled with many big issues. They’ll write about the battle between nationalism and globalism, soaring global debt, a dysfunctional healthcare system, societal concerns around automation and AI, and pushback on immigration. They will also note the growing number of populist leaders in Western democracies, ranging from Marine Le Pen to Donald Trump.
However, as Visual Cpitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, these historians will not view these ideas and events in isolation. Instead, they will link them all, at least partially, to an overarching trend that is intimately connected to today’s biggest problems: the “hollowing out” of the middle class.
VISUALIZING THE COLLAPSE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
The fact is many people have less money in their pockets – and understandably, this has motivated people to take action against the status quo.
And while the collapse of the middle class and income inequality are issues that receive a fair share of discussion, we thought that this particular animation from Metrocosm helped to put things in perspective.
The following animation shows the change in income distribution in 20 major U.S. cities between 1970 and 2015:

The differences between 1970 and 2015 are intense. At first, each distribution is more bell-shaped, with the majority of people in a middle income bracket – and by 2015, those people are “pushed” out towards the extremes as they either get richer or poorer.
A BROADER LOOK AT INCOME INEQUALITY
This phenomenon is not limited to major cities, either.
Here’s another look at the change in income distribution using smaller brackets and the whole U.S. adult population:

It’s a multi-faceted challenge, because while a significant portion of middle class households are being shifted into lower income territory, there are also many households that are doing the opposite.According to Pew Research, the percentage of households in the upper income bracket has grown from 14% to 21% between 1971 and 2015.
The end result? With people being pushed to both ends of the spectrum, the middle class has decreased considerably in size. In 1971, the middle class made up 61% of the adult population, and by 2014 it accounted for less than 50%.
As this “core” of society shrinks, it aggravates the aforementioned problems. People and governments borrow more money to make up for a lack of middle class wealth, while backlashes against globalism, free trade, and open borders are fueled. The populists who can “fix” the broken system are elected, and so on.
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/animation-collapse-middle-class-20-major-u-s-cities/

The reason the very wealthy and their control of the government are for more and more immigration and open
borders are to lower the living standards and turn America and other affected countries into third world economies.
Where cheap labor is the rule and anyone that exposes them are treated with contempt and ostracized.
The very wealthy has been very successful in the 1971-2015 to the present day.

exleftist · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2017, 07:31:50 PM »

Major US cities aka the homes of the former American manufacturing base which was parted out like a Cadillac in a chop shop sent overseas to vast armies of cheap borderline-slave labor.

There is zero morality in US economic policy.n

Author Topic: The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major US Cities (Read 2242 times)

RomanCatholic1953

The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major US Cities

exleftist

Re: The Collapse of the Middle Class in 20 Major US Cities