Just how bad is the situation for the average American today? With Wall Street receiving bailouts from the federal government and the Washington elite leading luxurious lifestyles on the taxpayers’ dime, one must ask the question: what about a lower- or middle-class American that is consistently hindered by bureaucrats?
The Associated Press published an exclusive, in-depth report Monday that looked at the economic conditions of Americans at a time when the economic recovery hasn’t really been a recovery at all and the future of the nation seems rather bleak.
According to the piece, four in five adults in the United States have had to handle being unemployed and potentially becoming impoverished and depending on welfare for significant portions of their lives.
Despite many of the culprits being inflation, central economic planning, anti-poor labor laws and endless regulations put on businesses, the AP pointed the finger at globalization, the gap between the rich and the poor and the paucity of manufacturing jobs, a career that was once the beacon of middle-class employment opportunities.
The news organization’s study found an increase in economic insecurity: an amount of time where the person was experiencing unemployment, a recipient of welfare or having an income 150 percent below the poverty line.
It isn’t just demographics that are playing a role in the numbers. It appears that whites are narrowing the disparity with minorities as more than three-quarters (76 percent) will face economic insecurity before they reach the age of 60. Although the poverty rate for blacks and Hispanics remains three times that of whites, Caucasians represent 41 percent of the population in poverty, double the number of blacks in poverty.
Meanwhile, experts argue that it’s no longer an issue of what race is facing what economic problem. The fact is is that all demographics are left to deal with an array of problems, no matter what the color of your skin is.
“Poverty is no longer an issue of ‘them,’ it’s an issue of ‘us,’” Mark Rank, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. “Only when poverty is thought of as a mainstream event, rather than a fringe experience that just affects blacks and Hispanics, can we really begin to build broader support for programs that lift people in need.”
The future could lead to white alienation, according to one expert.
“It’s time that America comes to understand that many of the nation’s biggest disparities, from education and life expectancy to poverty, are increasingly due to economic class position,” said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who specializes in race and poverty, in an interview with AP. “There is the real possibility that white alienation will increase if steps are not taken to highlight and address inequality on a broad front.”
An interesting element to note is that no one is suggesting repealing any of the laws and initiatives that have hurt the American people over the past several decades. It’s akin to Pope Francis, who expressed concern on Monday for the high youth unemployment across the globe. If he was concerned, he would urge lawmakers to end minimum wage laws, eliminate union power in states, getting rid of egregious labor laws that prevent workforces from actually conducting their own business affairs and, most importantly, eviscerating central banking.
There is a lot that can be done to lift up the American people instead of weighing them down with welfare, unemployment incentives and a terrible government education.
Have you seen the number of unemployed? Students who take out small cash at online store in addition to student loans want to work day and night to repay all money. It seems they have no opportunity. Why should I pay for a doctor degree if I never be a doctor?
This is supposed to be an argument against welfare??? Rather it seems like evidence it is working!
What has actually caused the troubles over the last few decades, during which period we went from one-income families to two-income families, is the *dismantling* of minimum wages, unions, etc. We had strong unions and regularly updated minimum wages in the 1960s. Since then, wages have largely been controlled by employers and the ratio of worker pay to owner pay has plummeted.
This has had a huge impact on growth, since workers are a lot more likely to buy things with their money than owners. You can see the effects of this by looking at the economic growth record of America over the last 100 years. We grew the economy more in 12 years of FDR than under all the Republicans of the last century combined (48 years).