The destruction of the middle class (vid - no conspiracy BS!)

[Archvile]

The coming collapse of the middle class
This woman has clearly done her homework. Here, well presented, are statistics and verifiable data about why the middle class in America (and perhaps elsewhere) is to collapse.
The main line of argument is that the costs of education and healthcare pose an increasing pressure on already heavily indebted middle class families, while at the same time the social safety net is being eroded.

Gets really good at ~35:00, but watch the whole thing! Well worth an hour!

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[MCYhon]

i had came up with my own thoughts about college tuition that would kill the medium class and cause us to suffer from debts. When i told my friends what i think, they were like huh??

yea, i also heard this from other writers and thinkers. I'll check this one out too.

[decades]

Whose fault is it that everyone thinks their dumbass kid should go to college?

[Dawn Run]

Cliffs?

[pioneer_167]

I wonder if she was talking about costs of those commodities decreasing or the amount we spend on them. For example, 30 years ago, if your toaster died, you'd probably have it fixed. Today? Forget that, just buy a new one. So back then, you'd pay 20% more for a toaster but it'd last 200% longer than one you buy today. So while per toaster you're paying less today, on toasters overall, you are probably paying more. This goes even more for cars. There is a reason you still see so many older cars on the roads today. They were built to last and easy to service. You could do most of the work yourself with tools everyone has. Not like the proprietary parts on foreign or luxury cars today. You think you'll see a 2000 Ford Taurus on the road in 20-30 years? Hell no. It's cheaper to just buy a new one.

[Zephyrus055]

My view is this.

Ranks in the middle class at one time did not require an education, but today that is changing with our increasingly high-tech society. It is rather the demand for education that is causing a falling middle class. Furthermore, this demand is disenfranchising the working class.

Today it is the people who can afford an education who can typically live comfortably. Knowing this, people pursue an education. This raises demand and therefore the cost for attending college/university.

The solution I see is to build more community/tech colleges, and require people to go there for their first two years. A degree at these institutions can guarantee placement in the middle class, and it would reduce overcrowding and the cost of building more four year universities. In other words, requiring a degree at a two year college first would satisfy our education needs at far lesser cost.

[msg_v2]

This is all bullshit. The Illuminati are the ones responsible. And the illuminati are actually themselves being manipulated by Replons.

[Archvile]

I wonder if she was talking about costs of those commodities decreasing or the amount we spend on them. For example, 30 years ago, if your toaster died, you'd probably have it fixed. Today? Forget that, just buy a new one. So back then, you'd pay 20% more for a toaster but it'd last 200% longer than one you buy today. So while per toaster you're paying less today, on toasters overall, you are probably paying more. This goes even more for cars. There is a reason you still see so many older cars on the roads today. They were built to last and easy to service. You could do most of the work yourself with tools everyone has. Not like the proprietary parts on foreign or luxury cars today. You think you'll see a 2000 Ford Taurus on the road in 20-30 years? Hell no. It's cheaper to just buy a new one.
It's called "planned obsolence" and the result of a cancerous monetary system. Seen Zeitgeist?
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[pioneer_167]

It's called "planned obsolence" and the result of a cancerous monetary system. Seen Zeitgeist?
.

Yes I have. I think it's a combination of both being cheaper to just replace something and people generally choosing to replace rather than fix. Personally I'm very hesitant to throw anything away. I will try to fix anything. My 1975 Pioneer SA-8500 stereo receiver, sure, it's a clunker, I could've bought a new one. But I fixed it up so it works almost good as new. Same goes for my 1983 road bike. This is all stuff that was made before I was even born but it was built to last and it has. People nowadays, especially people my age and younger, don't know how to fix anything.

[composer]

Warren now works for Obama, in consumer protection I think. Anyhow she's mostly correct, even though she mostly focuses on consumer credit. The other side is that the middle class did it to themselves by living beyond their means for decades.

In general I think having a large middle class is an unstable situation which is hard to maintain, especially when you consider the difficulties in how to support a group like that in retirement.

[CEOofRawness]

The solution I see is to build more community/tech colleges, and require people to go there for their first two years.
Fuck that. How about a decent public education system?

But yea technology is starting to replace many jobs. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since we get more work done for less cost.

The bad part comes when we try to force an old economic system based on (obsolete) hard work into our technology/profit-driven world.

[Archvile]

In general I think having a large middle class is an unstable situation which is hard to maintain, especially when you consider the difficulties in how to support a group like that in retirement.

This is obviously untrue. Most of Europe's prosperity is grounded in a strong middle class, combined with a working welfare system.
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[pioneer_167]

This is obviously untrue. Most of Europe's prosperity is grounded in a strong middle class, combined with a working welfare system.
.

I don't know what Europe is like, but I do agree that a large and strong middle class is very stable. It's generally what people want anyway. Most people are perfectly content being able to live their lives with financial security and moderate wealth.