The Death of the Middle Class Is Worse Than You Think
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute, with the chilling title “Poorer than their Parents: Flat or Falling Incomes in Advanced Economies,” shows just why this is the case. According to the paper, the trend in stagnating or declining incomes for middle class workers is not just confined to the United States, but is a global phenomenon hurting workers across the wealthy world.
The report found that as much as 70% of the households in 25 advanced economies saw their earnings drop in the past decade. The study tracked income brackets, not individual households, from 2005 to 2014. That compares to just 2% of households that saw declining incomes in the previous 12 years.
The authors estimate that this means that “while fewer than ten million people were affected [by flat or falling incomes] in the 1993-2005 period, that figure exploded to between 540 million and 580 million people in 2005-2014.”
To put it bluntly: A huge swath of the world’s population, one that had been taught to expect their material wealth to grow through their lifetimes and across generations, has learned that this promise was a lie. No wonder voters in the rich world are being seduced by radical politics and specious solutions to their economic problems… Fortune
The Death Of The American Middle Class
https://youtu.be/m-fR8u0a9es
bergmanu: Maybe we should stop sending billions to Israel and leave it in the Americans pockets.
Tha_Dude_Abidez: Their strategy is working for sure. They are popping up everywhere in Southwest Virginia. Dollar Tree’s, Dollar Stores and Dollar Generals. Everyone shops there, they’re severely understaffed all the time, and I worry about the quality of any of the food.
011101112011: When dollar stores first popped up where I live…15-20 years ago, they were great, as they sold the same low quality crap other places sold, but at a dollar or less. If I needed a new spatula, stationary, vases,or something like that I would go to the dollar store, spend $0.50 or $1, instead of going to the brand name store and spending $10-$15.
I was there yesterday, needed a stainless steel strainer. WTF. Everything is now $4+.
I guess after securing their market, and more and more larger businesses going out of business over the years, they can raise their prices, and now compete to get the walmat customers.
rwbombc: I pay extra not to go there. It’s basically all the hardscrabble folk pulled out of blade runner’s streets and thrown into a box, and much less cooler then you’d imagine.
nut_conspiracy_nut: Hm … I thought that cheap products are a good thing.
Whaddaya Say?