Steven P. BarrettLosing the war against the American Middle Class -- By default! (LINK)
July 30th 2008 16:23
By Steven Barrett
Guess which amazingly "poor and backward" nation has the world's largest middle class?
If you guessed India, you'd be on your way to a passing grade. India's looking over her shoulder, but not at us: She's seeing China, followed by Russia.
Where do we fit in, the ultimate land of middle class values, prosperity and propriety?
Heading in reverse or standing stuck in a mudflat of its own creation: massive debts, little or no savings and an entitlement mentality that doesn't seem to show any signs of abatement or deferring finally to common sense.
In more respects than not, I blame many American business gurus, think tanks, union-busting firms and pols who take money from them while winkin' n' nodding at lucrative trade deals favoring sweat shop countries like China and -- don't get me started on Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff's sleazy shennanigans.
But we're also willing to buy this stuff, and pay through the nose in doing so. Take a good look at Michael Medved's column in today's Townhall.com:
We're killing ourselves off bit by bit, piece by piece. We complain about the effects of outsourcing and downsizing, and we should be damned angry! (Just read the introduction to the NYT's Steven Greenhouse's new book "Squeezed" and you'll see why: www.stevengreenhouse.com.) On the other hand, read that part about "Grand Theft Auto IV" over and over and you'll see what Medved and I are getting at.
What Medved said about gambling was a real eye opener. I'm not anti-gambling, nor am I the most responsibly frugal. But knowing one's faults doesn't mean he can't express an alarm; In fact I'd have a lot more to be worried about if I didn't! And so would the country.
Remember what I wrote about Broward County a month ago? If we don't learn to pull back on the excesses that promote these vices and all the social woes that follow in train, then we have no business complaining about the real price tags these vices represent.
Guess which amazingly "poor and backward" nation has the world's largest middle class?
If you guessed India, you'd be on your way to a passing grade. India's looking over her shoulder, but not at us: She's seeing China, followed by Russia.
Where do we fit in, the ultimate land of middle class values, prosperity and propriety?
Heading in reverse or standing stuck in a mudflat of its own creation: massive debts, little or no savings and an entitlement mentality that doesn't seem to show any signs of abatement or deferring finally to common sense.
In more respects than not, I blame many American business gurus, think tanks, union-busting firms and pols who take money from them while winkin' n' nodding at lucrative trade deals favoring sweat shop countries like China and -- don't get me started on Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff's sleazy shennanigans.
But we're also willing to buy this stuff, and pay through the nose in doing so. Take a good look at Michael Medved's column in today's Townhall.com:
Despite demagogic and alarmist claims that a relentless “War on the Middle Class” has left ordinary Americans pummeled and powerless, middle income people still manage to find enough money to secure most of life’s true necessities – like the grotesquely violent and anti-authoritarian video game Grand Theft Auto IV, which shattered all sales records in its first week of release.
Despite a price tag of sixty dollars (more than ninety dollars in the special edition), and despite its release on April 29, 2008, at the very height of national concern over a potential recession, the game sold an astonishing 6 million units in its first week. By the end of 2008, at least 11 million Americans will have purchased GTA IV, placing the game in nearly one out of ten households in the land of the free.
The stunning success of a game that glorifies guerilla warfare, murder, irresponsible driving, prostitution, cop-killing, international conspiracies and, of course, car theft highlights the real threat to the American Way of Life: it’s not the war on the middle class; it’s the war on middle class values.
Despite a price tag of sixty dollars (more than ninety dollars in the special edition), and despite its release on April 29, 2008, at the very height of national concern over a potential recession, the game sold an astonishing 6 million units in its first week. By the end of 2008, at least 11 million Americans will have purchased GTA IV, placing the game in nearly one out of ten households in the land of the free.
The stunning success of a game that glorifies guerilla warfare, murder, irresponsible driving, prostitution, cop-killing, international conspiracies and, of course, car theft highlights the real threat to the American Way of Life: it’s not the war on the middle class; it’s the war on middle class values.
We're killing ourselves off bit by bit, piece by piece. We complain about the effects of outsourcing and downsizing, and we should be damned angry! (Just read the introduction to the NYT's Steven Greenhouse's new book "Squeezed" and you'll see why: www.stevengreenhouse.com.) On the other hand, read that part about "Grand Theft Auto IV" over and over and you'll see what Medved and I are getting at.
Part of the unease, resentment and even paranoia of middle class Americans involves not the fear of powerful conspiracies bent on economic exploitation, but an even deeper sense of powerlessness in the face of an ongoing, seemingly relentless assault on morals and traditions and institutions.
The prevalence of divorce and out-of-wedlock birth, for instance, threatens to sweep away the proud sense of respectability and family commitment always associated with the bourgeoisie. A 2008 study for the Institute for American Values reported that family break-up costs the government more than $100 billion a year in terms of the consequences to the legal system, law enforcement, welfare systems, social workers and more. The toll on private citizens could be even higher, and the appallingly common incidence of marital collapse surely causes as much financial distress for middle class Americans as outsourcing, high food prices, immigration or other sources of anxiety.
The prevalence of divorce and out-of-wedlock birth, for instance, threatens to sweep away the proud sense of respectability and family commitment always associated with the bourgeoisie. A 2008 study for the Institute for American Values reported that family break-up costs the government more than $100 billion a year in terms of the consequences to the legal system, law enforcement, welfare systems, social workers and more. The toll on private citizens could be even higher, and the appallingly common incidence of marital collapse surely causes as much financial distress for middle class Americans as outsourcing, high food prices, immigration or other sources of anxiety.
What Medved said about gambling was a real eye opener. I'm not anti-gambling, nor am I the most responsibly frugal. But knowing one's faults doesn't mean he can't express an alarm; In fact I'd have a lot more to be worried about if I didn't! And so would the country.
A 2008 USA TODAY story of middle class gamblers deciding to reign in their habit because of high gas prices highlights the reality that surpluses of choices afflict working Americans even more than shortages of cash. The article cited Marie Braun, 45, of Olathe, Kansas, who “has already made the decision to cut back, from five casino visits a year to two or three visits. Gas is too expensive for a 60 mile round trip to Missouri, says Braun, who works for a telecommunications company.” Ironically, she and the others quoted by the reporters had made the decision that spending twenty or thirty extra dollars in gas (maximum) made it irresponsible for them to continue to travel to casinos where they almost surely lost several hundred dollars each trip (minimum).
Remember what I wrote about Broward County a month ago? If we don't learn to pull back on the excesses that promote these vices and all the social woes that follow in train, then we have no business complaining about the real price tags these vices represent.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
That being said, almost everyone is cutting back on something. (Except Obama, Gore, etc. who don't think they have to and don't seem bothered by the prices the rest of us complain about). My concession is driving less than I'd like. But everywhere I want to go takes time and gas...
Our middle class values are being bombarded, mostly in the name of Freedom of Speech. Unless we all get together and use that same freedom to object, it's only going to get worse.
Comment by Anonymous
Our eldest went a couple of times to Foxwoods -- the larger of the two worlds's largest casinos (I thought you folks in Las Vegas owned that right ... but ya got the biggest conglomeration of 'em) and he said he saw the same overweight couple sitting next to each other, neither even glancing at each other like it was no damn big deal. I still tease my wife about the ten bucks she lost in ten minutes. I wouldn't be the least surprised to find out that that couple lost ten bucks in ten seconds.
And oh, what are the kids playing while mom n' dad are at Mohegan, Foxwoods, Vegas or Reno? Perhaps Grand Theft Auto IV at 60 bucks a pop?
Frank Sinatra wasn't kidding when he said "Success is the best revenge" and the New England Wampanoags are making the rest of us pay BIG TIME for King Phillip's War.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief