The Obama Economy

As recounted by Christopher S. Rugaber and Melissa Nelson in the following AP Article...

A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity.

* OR AT LEAST IT USED TO.

Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended...

* AH... BUT DID IT END? I SAY "NO" AND THIS ARTICLE BEARS ME OUT.

...more people are coming to the painful realization that they're no longer part of it.

They are former professionals now stocking shelves at grocery stores, retirees struggling with rising costs and people working part-time jobs but desperate for full-time pay. Such setbacks have emerged in economic statistics for several years. Now they're affecting how Americans think of themselves.

* AND THAT MY FRIEND IS A GAME CHANGER!

Since 2008, the number of people who call themselves middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to a survey in January by the Pew Research Center, from 53% to 44%. Forty percent now identify as either lower-middle or lower class compared with just 25% in February 2008.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans who say they're middle or upper-middle class fell 8 points between 2008 and 2012 - to 55%.

And the most recent National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey found that the vast proportion of Americans who call themselves middle or working class, though still high at 88%, is the lowest in the survey's 40-year history.

* IS THE LOWEST IN THE SURVEY'S 40-YEAR HISTORY...

(*SIGH*)

It's fallen 4 percentage points since the recession began in 2007.

* REFRESH ME... THE DEMOCRATS TOOK BOTH HOUSE OF CONGRESS IN THE... er... 2006 ELECTION - CORRECT? (AND THEN THE WHITE HOUSE VIA THE 2008 ELECTION...)

The trend reflects a widening gap between the richest Americans and everyone else, one that's emerged gradually over decades and accelerated with the Great Recession. The difference between the income earned by the wealthiest 5% of Americans and by a median-income household has risen 24% in 30 years, according to the Census Bureau.

* YEP. THAT'S THE PROBLEM. IT'S NOT THE MIDDLE CLASS vs. THE BILLIONAIRES. NOPE. NOR IS IT THE MIDDLE CLASS vs. THE MILLIONAIRES. NOPE. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE MIDDLE CLASS IS BEING CRUSHED BETWEEN THE ENTITLED CLASSES AND THE ENABLED CLASSES - AND MORE AND MORE OF US BELIEVE THE GAME IS BEING RIGGED.

Whether or not people see themselves as middle class, there's no agreed-upon definition of the term. In part, it's a state of mind. Incomes or lifestyles that feel middle class in Kansas can feel far different in Connecticut. People with substantial incomes often identify as middle class if they live in urban centers with costly food, housing and transportation.

In any case, individuals and families who feel they've slipped from the middle class are likely to spend and borrow less. Such a pullback, in turn, squeezes the economy, which is fueled mainly by consumer spending.

* SO SIMPLISTIC AS TO BE DOWNRIGHT WRONG. (THEY ARE AP REPORTERS AFTER ALL, THOUGH...)

"How they think is reflected in how they act," said Richard Morin, a senior editor at the Pew Research Center.

People are generally slow to acknowledge downward mobility. Many regard themselves as middle class even if their incomes fall well above or below the average. Experts say the rise in Americans who feel they've slipped below the middle class suggests something deeply rooted.

More people now think "it's harder to achieve" the American dream than thought so several decades ago, said Mark Rank, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

* IT IS. (AND ARTIFICIALLY SO! TAKE THE "REQUIRED" COLLEGE DEGREE FOR EXAMPLE. MORE AND MORE ONE'S UPWARD MOBILITY IS MORE RELATED TO "PLAYING THE GAME" THAN IN STANDING OUT FROM THE PACK.)

Three years ago, Kristina Feldotte, 47, and her husband earned a combined $80,000. She considered herself solidly middle class. The couple and their four children regularly vacationed at a lake near their home in Saginaw, Michigan. But in August 2012, Feldotte was laid off from her job as a special education teacher. She's since managed to find only part-time teaching work. Though her husband still works as a truck salesman, their income has sunk by more than half to $36,000. "Now we're on the upper end of lower class," Feldotte said.

* WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT THE REPORTERS AND THEIR EDITORS HAVE JUST HIT ON ONE OF MY THEMES. DO THE MATH, FOLKS. THE WIFE (A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER) MADE MORE THAN THE HUSBAND. WHY? HIS INCOME - AND THE JUSTIFICATION FOR IT - CAN BE QUANTIFIED. NOT SO HERS. THINK ABOUT IT. TOO MUCH MONEY IS BEING MISDIRECTED.

Americans' self-perception coincides with data documenting a shrinking middle class: The percentage of households with income within 50% of the median — one way to define a broad middle class — fell from 50 percent in 1970 to 42% in 2010.

* NOT GOOD FOLKS!

Roughly 8.4% of respondents to the National Opinion Research Center's survey, last conducted in 2012, said they consider themselves lower class. That's the survey's highest percentage ever, up from 5.4% in 2006. (NORC is a social science research organization at the University of Chicago.)

Tom Smith, director of the NORC, said even slight shifts are significant. Class self-identification "is traditionally one of the most stable measures" in the survey, he said.

By contrast to the most recent recession, the severe 1981-82 downturn had little effect on class self-identification in Smith's survey.

* THAT'S BECAUSE IN THE EARLY '80's AMERICA WAS STILL AMERICA! THE DEMOGRAPHICS - AND OUR SOCIETAL VALUES AND NORMS - HAVE CHANGED DRASTICALLY... AND NOT FOR THE BETTER.

Why do so many no longer regard themselves as middle class? A key reason is that the recession eliminated 8.7 million jobs.

* GONE. KAPUT.

A disproportionate number were middle-income positions.

Those losses left what economists describe as a "hollowed out" workforce, with more higher- and lower-paying and fewer middle-income jobs.

Home ownership is among factors economists cite as markers of middle-class status. Others include being able to vacation, help children pay for college and save for a secure retirement. Yet stagnant middle-class pay, combined with steep price increases for college, health care and homes, have made those expenses harder to afford.

* OH, NO... HOW CAN THAT BE... THE GOVERNMENT ASSURES US THERE'S NO INFLATION...

(*SMIRK*)

Median household income, adjusted for inflation, hasn't budged since 1996, according to the Census Bureau. Average college tuition has soared 174% in that time.

* BUT NO INFLATION...

(*SNORT*)

Many of the formerly middle class are still struggling with student debt and aren't prepared to help their children pay for college.

Some people feel they've fallen out of the middle class even as their incomes have remained stable, because their costs have risen.

* BUT... BUT... BUT... WE'RE TOLD...

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

One is Richard Timmerman, 66, a retired postal employee in River Falls, Wisconsin. He's been living off his pension since retiring five years ago. His wife, a sales manager at a hotel and conference center, hasn't had a raise in that time. The recession hammered the hotel's business, though it's slowly recovering. Yet his cost of living has risen in the past decade or so. Gas prices have surged over that time. So has food. And only this year did the value of Timmerman's retirement savings regain its level of six years ago. "I see my position in the social structure having gone down a notch," Timmerman said. He considers himself lower-middle class, compared with middle class a few years ago.

A slowly improving U.S. economy could lift some people back into the middle class. Still, the recession and slow recovery have left permanent scars.