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July 14, 2019 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
08:36
30 Signs the Middle Class is Dying...
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Hi everybody, it's Stefan Molyneux from Freedom Aid Radio.
Hope you're doing well. January the 8th, 2012.
And here is 30 signs.
This is from Zero Hedge.
30 signs that the middle class in America is going the way of the dodo and, as is usually the case with the middle class, taking the rest of society with it.
Today, only 55.3% of all Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 have jobs.
And of course, some of those are shuffling papers in the way of the free market in the form of government bureaucracies.
This is number two.
In the U.S. today, there are 240 million working-age people.
Only about 140 million of them are working.
That's a whole lot of dependence.
Since the year 2000, the U.S. has lost 10% of its middle-class jobs.
In the year 2000, about 72 million.
Now there are about 65.
Number five, according to the NYT, 100 million Americans are either living in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.
According to that same article, this is number six, 34% of all elderly Americans are living in poverty or near poverty, and 39% of all children in America are living in poverty or near poverty, to which I would add almost 60% of American children are growing up without a two-parent household.
That is not good.
Number seven, in 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 and older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
Today, it's 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
They have gotten almost five times richer, the elderly.
At the same time, of course, there's increasing poverty among the elderly.
That's, of course, the missing of the middle class, right?
Number eight, since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12% after you adjust for inflation.
That is not good.
The total value of household real estate in the U.S. has declined from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today.
Most of this wealth has been lost by the middle classes.
Number 10. Many formerly great manufacturing cities are turning into ghost towns.
Since 1950, the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has declined by more than 50%.
In Dayton, Ohio, almost 20% of all houses now stand empty.
Number 11. Since 1971, consumer debt in the United States has increased by a whopping 1,700%.
Of course, this is filling in the loss of income, loss of real wages, loss of opportunities, loss of benefits, loss of retirement plans.
People are just going into debt to fill in the inevitable decay of a post-socialist economy.
Number 12, the number of pages of federal tax rules and regulations has increased by 18,000% since 1913.
The wealthy know how to avoid taxes, but most of those in the middle class do not.
I just often thought it would be a pretty good defense if you were accused of missing some obscure tax payment.
Just say, hey, I'll be my own defense.
I'm just going to bring in book after book after book of the tax code.
Look at the judge and say, are you kidding me?
Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Does anybody know what's in all these books?
No. Don't give me this ridiculous nonsense.
Number 13, the number of Americans that fell into poverty, 2.6 million, set a new all-time record last year.
And extreme poverty, 6.7%, is at the highest level ever measured in the United States.
Number 14, according to one study, between 1969 and 2009, the median wages earned by American men between the ages of 30 and 50 dropped by 27% after you account for inflation.
Between 1969 and 2009, dropped by almost 30%.
Don't think this doesn't have a lot to do with what's happening to marriage and family stability.
According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, America has lost an average of 15 manufacturing facilities a day!
Over the last 10 years.
During 2010, it got even worse.
Last year, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities every single day shut down in the United States.
Number 16. Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the U.S. were low-income jobs.
Today, more than 40% are low-income jobs.
Number 17. Most Americans are scratching and clawing and doing whatever they can to make a living these days.
Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.
That would be before taxes.
Number 18. Food prices continue to rise at a very brisk pace.
The price of beef is up 9.8% over the past year.
The price of eggs is up 10.2%.
And the price of potatoes is up 12% over the past year.
Yeah, it's true. Two-thirds of a grocery cart is like $100 these days.
It's nutty. And that's even...
I try and save in scrimp and coupon like crazy.
Number 19.
Electricity bills in the U.S. have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
Number 21. Sorry, number 20.
The average American household will have spent a staggering $4,155 on gasoline by the end of 2011.
Number 21. If inflation was measured the exact same way that it was measured back in 1980, the rate of inflation in the U.S. would be well over 10%.
Number 22.
If the number of Americans considered to be looking for work was the same today as it was back in 07, the official unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11%.
See? Don't like reality?
Just change the numbers. Number 23, according to the student loan debt clock, total student loan debt in the U.S. will surpass the $1 trillion mark at some point in 2012.
Most of that debt is owned by members of the middle class.
Number 24, incredibly more than one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps, and one out of every four U.S. children is on food stamps at this point.
Number 25...
Since Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased by $14.3 million.
In 2010, 42% of all single mothers in the U.S. were on food stamps.
In 1970, 65% of all Americans lived in middle-class neighborhoods.
By 2007, only 44% of all Americans lived in middle-class neighborhoods.
Number 28, according to a recent report produced by Pew Charitable Trusts, approximately one out of every three Americans that grew up in a middle-class household has slipped down the income ladder.
Number 29, in the U.S. today, the wealthiest 1% of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90% combined.
Number 30, the poorest 50% of all Americans now collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
These are all problems that the expansion of state power was supposed to solve.
Remember? Stability.
Economic stability. Prosperity.
Increasing prosperity. Family stability.
Poverty. Dependence.
Manufacturing problems. Remember?
All of the health and safety regulations, all the environmental regulations, see, they were brought in to keep the workers safe.
Well, now they're very safe because they don't have any goddamn jobs.
The government always overswings.
The government always cuts off society at the knees.
Violence will never solve these problems.
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever solve these problems.
And that ship of state is slowly turning around because people are slowly, slowly, slowly, God help them, beginning to recognize that more state power is not going to solve what massive increases in state power has failed to solve.
One more dose of cocaine does not help the coke head hanging off a bridge.
So... Hopefully this will start to turn around.
My absolute massive deep and sympathies to everyone out there in middle class land who is finding themselves slipping down the ever-increasing, ever-tilting glacial frozen wall without any crampons.
We can turn this thing around.
Hopefully we can start to really begin to make inroads this year.
But we first have to put down the gun.
Stop waving it around.
Stop imagining that more violence, more state power is going to do anything other to make every single thing worse.
That's it. Freedom Aid Radio Sunday Show.
Let's turn it over to the listeners.
2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
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