the downward mobility of the middle class and why mitt romney doesn't know

[xchrom]

http://www.nationofchange.org/downward-mobility-american-middle-class-and-why-mitt-romney-doesn-t-know-1328627495

Jan­u­ary’s in­crease in hir­ing is good news, but it masks a big­ger and more dis­turb­ing story – the con­tin­u­ing down­ward mo­bil­ity of the Amer­i­can mid­dle class.

Most of the new jobs being cre­ated are in the lower-wage sec­tors of the econ­omy – hos­pi­tal or­der­lies and nurs­ing aides, sec­re­taries and tem­po­rary work­ers, re­tail and restau­rant. Mean­while, mil­lions of Amer­i­cans re­main work­ing only be­cause they’ve agreed to cuts in wages and ben­e­fits. Oth­ers are set­tling for jobs that pay less than the jobs they’ve lost. En­try-level man­u­fac­tur­ing jobs are pay­ing half what en­try-level man­u­fac­tur­ing jobs paid six years ago.

Other peo­ple are falling out of the mid­dle class be­cause they’ve lost their jobs, and many have also lost their homes. Al­most one in three fam­i­lies with a mort­gage is now un­der­wa­ter, hold­ing their breath against im­mi­nent fore­clo­sure.

The per­cent of Amer­i­cans in poverty is its high­est in two decades, and more of us are im­pov­er­ished than at any time in the last fifty years. A re­cent analy­sis of fed­eral data by the New York Times showed the num­ber of chil­dren re­ceiv­ing sub­si­dized lunches rose to 21 mil­lion in the last school year, up from 18 mil­lion in 2006-2007. Nearly a dozen states ex­pe­ri­enced in­creases of 25 per­cent or more. Under fed­eral rules, chil­dren from fam­lies with in­comes up to 130 per­cent of the poverty line, $29,055 for a fam­ily of four, are el­i­gi­ble.

[DCKit]

1. Mitt spends a lot of time with people of like mind.

They don't know any working class people, and those who work for them wouldn't dare breach the subject for fear of losing their minimum wage jobs.

It's not that it's lonely at the top, it's just really well insulated.

[peace frog]

2. ...and of like purse

and yes, they are really well insulated.

[kemah]

6. That's why a lot of retirees retire to third world countries

In those third world countries you are treated like the 1%. I know I have traveled to Costa Rica, Panama, Thailand, and Mexico. There you go to a restaurant you are greeted with Mr. Smith here is your table. Here in the USA you are greeted with Number 25 your order is ready. BIG DIFFERENCE. I was at a coffee house the first time, I ordered the waiter got to know my name. The second time I got there my order was delivered exactly like I had ordered the day before. With Good Morning Mr Smith. Not number 21 get come and get your food at the counter.

[kemah]

3. $52,000 per hour while being unemployed is Mitt

And he whines because he is also unemployed.
He doesn't care for poor people. When he bankrupted those companies and walked away with millions, why did he not just give the employees a severance pay. Instead of walking away with $20 million, he could have walked away with $19 million and give that million to the employees. He probably would have gotten a tax credit and it would have not even be $1 million. Just pure greed and no clue as the damage he was creating.

[stevebreeze]

4. some good information from David Cay Jonstone on The effects of Mitt's tax plans.

Just look at that graph.
Mitt really doesn't think much about the poor.

[xchrom]

5. +1