Making Americans Dream Again – The Rise and Fall of the Middle Class

During the class discussion this week I was surprised by the fact that the United States has the largest income inequality out of all developed democratic states. As back in Europe, income inequality is not such a large issue, I never really thought about the impact it could have on a population, especially if one thinks about the fact that the top 1% in the United States accounts for almost half of its wealth.

One of the big issues this results in is the rising anger of the middle class. When the upper class has such a large wealth advantage over all the other classes it leads to the rise of despair among the other classes, which in turn can lead to the rise of the currently well-known idea of an “angry white man”. But why do these so-called angry white men, the personification of the middle class, rise up against the elites in movements like Occupy Wall Street or – on the other side of the political spectrum – the Tea Party?

The explanation that is given most often for these uprisings is the middle class’ loss of security. Increased insecurities about whether their livelihoods are threatened by changes in policy and the state’s culture cause anger. But how can this anger be countered, how can the American Dream, what the middle class aspires to, be revived again? The textbook identifies the middle class as aspiring to this American Dream, which includes having a relatively stable and well-paying job, owning a home in a relatively good neighborhood, having a relatively new car, going on vacation at least once a year, and being able to send you children to relatively good schools. The bar for the middle class thus does not seem to be very high, why are they having so much trouble realizing these goals?

What many middle class Americans seem to think, following the rise to power of people such as Donald Trump, is that a radical change in leadership will fix these issues, that these issues stem from the same people (career politicians) being in power over a long time. However, the question is whether Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” approach will help these people realize a better lifestyle, or whether it will not change anything and was merely a strategy used to get elected. Seeing as there is still widespread discontent amidst the middle and lower class, I do not think this approach has worked, and I believe it has only deteriorated the state of the government further.

However, I am interested to hear about what you think of this approach, and whether you have a better idea about how to counter the anger that seems to be so widespread amongst the middle classes. Would you make college available to everyone? Would you incentivize companies to keep their factories in the United States? And do you think these measures are attainable, or are you doubtful anything can help against the anger of the middle classes?

5 Responses to "Making Americans Dream Again – The Rise and Fall of the Middle Class"

Allison McLaughlin says:

September 24, 2017 at 10:43 pm

I think you offered some really interesting insight on a very controversial and relevant issue in our country today. Inequality is at an all time high and leaving the bottom socioeconomic class behind to become more and more impoverished, while the top 1% grows richer and richer. While this problem is unfair and seems to go against democratic ideals, it is almost impossible to find a real fix for without changing much of the core principles of our capitalist system, which the root of inequality really comes down to.

While I also see the economic disparity in our country as a huge problem, I think the solutions you offered to fix it are over simplified. Raising the minimum wage sounds productive on the surface, but we must consider other possible ramifications that could potentially arise. For example, companies could try to compensate for having to pay higher wages by hiring less workers and being more selective with who they higher. Companies could also charge higher prices on their goods, which would counteract the positive effects of a higher minimum wage for a lot of people. Further, a problem arises with the balance of federalism, because the federal government may not fully understand the costs of living in individual states, so would not be able to assign the appropriate minimum wage nationwide. Also, the problem with mandating the creation of new jobs could result in the quality of and income of the jobs being lowered, resulting in the jobs not being able to pull people out of poverty. Many people with multiple jobs currently are not able to get out of poverty, so the creation of more jobs does not guarantee a solution.
Kevin Todd says:

September 26, 2017 at 7:16 pm

I thought it was interesting you brought up the 1% of Americans who bring home the most amount of this nation’s wealth. I can see how obviously it is unfair to the rest of the population due to the immense wealth inequality. However, I do think that the idea of individualism plays a large role with this. I think that majority of those in the 1% earn their money through hard work over the years. But I do also think that a lot of the wealthy citizens in this country have had an unfair advantage by growing up with more resources than one of a lower class individual. For example middle and upper class beings tend to receive better quality of education as they grow and usually results in them being able to go to better high schools and colleges which leads to a higher paying jobs than those who did not have that opportunity.

I think for many Americans the American Dream is still alive since everyone has different opinions, wants and needs in regards to their economic well being. There are so many problems in this country that cannot properly be solved through benefiting everyone. Essentially every situation is a cause and effect scenario that would benefit a group of people but potentially not benefit another. Sure free college is a great idea in a perfect world but I don’t think it would be possible in the near future. If college tuition was free then how would the university make money? How would the professors make money if the university could not pay them? Sure I think it would be great to keep companies’ factories on US soil but then again that would create a much higher cost of production for them. I think eventually these possibilities could be attained but there would have to be sacrifices to be made.
Yanbin Zhang says:

September 27, 2017 at 10:16 pm

The income inequality would have serious impact on the state economically and politically. But seeing as an issue accumulated for decades, there is no ease to point out how to solve the problem and the peace the anger of middle class. Therefore, tracing back in the history how such huge gap developed in this country open for equal opportunities would lead us to a better point to understand this issue.
Actually, the wealth gap used to be not a serious problem. From 1930s to 1970s, the percentage of income received by top 1 percent of people in America remained comparatively low. This was benefited from a set of policies by the federal government. During that period, the labor union increased rapidly, federal minimum income was set, system of social insurance and unemployment insurance was created, all these policies called Great Compression by Dr. Krugman efficiently controlled the wealth gap. But since The Great Divergence at 1970s, income equality was increased very quickly. Part of the reason is that the tax on investment decreased (Minimum at 15% in 2013) and it provides an additional way for rich people to make more money. According to Pew Research Center, the top one percent rich people are making 57% of their income through the investment and while other classes of people more rely on the fixed wage.
It’s not saying that the government should more step into the market, but the supplemental policies are required. The unequal conditions of people would eventually reduce the value of equal opportunities. The proper regulation from government should at least protect the possibility of people climbing upon the social ladder.
Stephanie Hughes says:

September 27, 2017 at 10:48 pm

The 1%, or the “elites”, hold a disproportionate amount of wealth and power in our nation. Those born into this socioeconomic class are given every advantage in life and usually become wealthy themselves because of the advantages they have received, not necessarily because they are the best or brightest. This cycle continues, and the 1% becomes ever-wealthier.

Is there a way to level the playing field? I think that colleges and universities, such as our own, attempt to do this through need-blind admissions. This, in theory, gives equal opportunity (based on individual merit) to all young adults to attend a private university. However, think about the people whose families live in rough neighborhoods, who have to take care of their siblings, who are raised by a single parent. These young adults cannot possibly have had the same opportunities to flourish academically as others. When education plays as pivotal a role as it does in deciding your successfulness, income inequality will prevail when some cannot get the same educational opportunities as others.
Stella Von Spreckelsen says:

September 27, 2017 at 10:49 pm

I found this blog post very interesting because there is clearly a divide in the middle class around politics. While they are both fighting against the large wealth gap in America, there is clearly a liberal side and a conservative side to the spectrum. I find it interesting because both groups blame income inequality on the top 1% or the greedy people on Wall Street but they are two groups very opposed to each other. ‘The angry white male’ however holds a lot anger towards the career politicians because they believe that these people are part of the elite and they are against the elite. The occupy wall street protestors are viewed from many conservatives eyes as being lazy people who ask the government for too much help. This is because when it comes to solutions, the two political factions have very different views on how to change the wealth gap. Conservatives tend to believe that the government is the issue and that the government needs to be less involved with controlling taxes and what not. Liberals tend to believe that the government needs to be more involved with giving the rich higher taxes and lowering taxes for the middle class and poor. I think that the idea surrounding the american dream is a bit faded out with the introduction of globalization. Many conservatives do not like globalization because it encourages more immigrants and more jobs being sent overseas. Many of the jobs being sent overseas are the old jobs that were considered part of the american dream. I believe globalization is a cause of ‘the angry white man’.

Comments are closed.