Facilitator:
The middle class group in American traverse along diverse earnings with some of them earning lowly as others earn highly. However, the common point among the middle class people revels in the level of education they claim and the prowess in different fields (David et al., 2010). Studies identify the middle class as people in possession of the greater part of the American economy, with arguably good educational levels and middle level incomes. Further inference shows that the middle class people possess a better part of the American trade market due to their advanced purchases and sales characters (Pressman, 2010). However, the strength among the middle class in America does not appear stable currently. The economic prowess of the middle class people in America declines constantly as they face derailing forces from their families, jobs, and general social lives. The decline threatens American economy that affirms the significance of exploring this concern.
David et al. (2010) infers that the middle class in America has lost its grip on the economy of the country mainly due to employment problems. The American economy deems money-bound because, the monetary endowment of a class of people determines the level of control that they possess over the others. Economic prowess in America emphasizes the individual’s monetary command; however, the middle class has possession of key monetary facilities due to the adverse effects of recession of the American economy (David et al., 2010). The recession period meant that the American wages decreased consistently among all the working people, with the middle class people the most affected. The only sectors that were offering open chances for the American middle class people were the low-wage sector jobs like food services, the retail jobs, and the ‘sweeping category’ jobs. The implication of the recession period on the middle class appeared to push them further to the dark because their incomes lowered substantially, with investments decreasing massively due to meagre incomes in sectors of their full operation.
Zero-growth rates in the sectors of major operations by the middle class people gives the main reason why the middle class people almost faced an unexpected fadeout in the American economy during the recession period. The industries, which aid most of development in America, appear as the mid-wage industries like construction, manufacturing, real estate, and insurance. However, during the period of recession, these industries faced the severest effects as they struggled to register any growth. The salaries of the middle class people lowered drastically due to this, with some of them being rendered unemployed by the crisis. The housing market perhaps faced the severest effect, as they have seemingly been unable to recover from the effects of the recession. With most of the people in the middle class depending on the middle level jobs, the adverse effects of recession hit the class more than any other in the economy (Pressman, 2010). Families broke up due to lack of support money from the households leading to stressful lives among many people. Attention shifted to family issues, and economic situations deemed forgotten even as investments in the middle level industries dropped drastically.
According to David et el (2010), the cost of education accounts for the greatest reason why the middle class people in America face a massive drawback in efforts to control the country’s economy. In a money-directed market like America, employment bases facts on the levels of education of the available resources. However, the cost of education in America hampers most of the middle class people from accessing increased levels of education. College education deems one of the most expensive of the same level comparative to the standards in many other countries. Population distribution in the United States of America appears that, most of the working people deem closer to retirement and the middle class people must prepare to replace them. However, with the American employment system, the middle class young people cannot get the jobs unless they have quality education. Imperatively, the cost of getting quality education rose drastically due to the recession and economic lapse in the country. The implication of the multiple education menace downs on the middle class of people, as they cannot get the jobs due to lack of required education (Pressman, 2010). The educational requirements in the country have confined the middle class people to middle-wage jobs, which hamper any concrete developments from them.
Increase in the cost of living in the United States of America make life harder for the middle class people as they cannot afford to pay for some basic services in the country. The similarity between the economic conditions of the middle class people and the value they pay for life deems so narrow that some of the people cannot afford it. Circumstantial evidence in America showed that, most of the people in the middle class were unable to pay the cost of life after the onset of the recession economic period. Full employment gets the value of most of the Americans as the only thing that enables people to manage the cost of life. The cost of living increased as the basic wage rate decreased drastically due to the economic situations in America (Morton, 2004). The cost of basic commodities inflated massively leading to a backlash in the purchasing power of the middle class people. The result of the economic situation can count in depleted savings throughout the economy, as investments decrease due to the operation of the economic multiplier system. Most of the American people fail to understand why everything goes up yet the wages and salaries remain constant. No wonder the middle class of people rarely developed in the United States of America since the onset of the economic recession.
A report released in 2009 attributed the situation of overexploitation to the fact that American middle class people cannot manage the cost of life in the country. According to Feagin (2007), marriage and procreation pose the greatest challenge to the American economy. The number of children per family increased drastically in the 1990s thus, twenty years down the line, the quantity of labour force exceeds the available opportunities for the young ambitious citizens. Unemployment deems the direct effect of increased population among the middle class group. Residual and disguised unemployment characterize a good deal of the people hence the financial capital decreases drastically among the middle class and consequently lower investments.
The middle class in America faces various family challenges and stress. Household conflicts became prevalent among many of the middle class families at the onset of the recession period (Morton, 2004). Most families break up due to poor living standards. The rate of divorce among the middle class people in America has increased drastically as the middle class lost its authority of controlling the economy. The strong social ties existent among the American people slowly fade off as economic circumstances take control of the United States. According to Eisenhauer (2008), separations and divorce cause lose of morale among the people at their places of work and consequently lead to stress and depression that lowers their productivity.
The government and many other agencies in the United States of America hold a very huge position in the state of the middle level people in America. Through taxation, the government literally impairs the middle class people, whose earnings do not match the taxes they pay. Many citizens in America face the temptation to question the policy of the government on taxation. One questions why the high-class people and the middle class face the same taxation criteria, yet they fall on two different fronts economically. Corruption has stolen its way into the American government at a level that cannot easily seize (Easterly, 2001). The change of the economic values from a value-based economy to a monetary controlled economy made the people overleapt on the dollar policy thus basic values decline. Overtaxing the middle class people pushes them gradually out of the economic market because they fail to save and invest. The meagre earnings they get go to tax thus they remain with little for transitory motives.
Banerjee & Duflo (2008) argues that conspicuous consumption and high debt ratios dent the efforts of the middle class people in the United States of America to save. Many of the middle class people have the desire to sustain their families and save. Initially, the wages available to the middle class people are low; then comes the issue of taxation. When the two come into play, the American citizens face hard times in terms of economic situations. Irrespective of all the contingencies working against their well-being, the middle class people became widely known due to their consumption behaviour. Automobiles in the United States of America belong mostly to the middle class people (Morton, 2004). Furthermore, consumption on luxurious commodities drain most of the earnings from the middle class people leaving them with nothing to save hence depleted economic conditions. Debts take the remaining meagre savings from the people. In the process of consumption, credit consumption takes most of the places in the routines of the middle class people. On earning, the people must first clear their debts, which makes them lack enough money to save and invest (David et al., 2010).
The middle class people in the United States of America control the economy because they form the majority of the population. Most consumers in the economy belong to the middle class people meaning that they literally run the economy. However, their position seems insignificant as they stagger through tough economic times. Recession, poverty, unemployment, family problems, and other social problems affect the authority of the middle class in America. Nevertheless, with reduced consumption, luxuries, increased wages, moderated taxes and well-balanced lives, the middle class people are likely to reinstate their position in the American economy.
References
Banerjee, A. V., & Duflo, E. (2008). What is middle class about the middle classes around the world? The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 22(2), 3-28. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.22.2.3
David M. Haugen, Susan Musser, Vickey Kalambakal (2010). The middle class. books.google.com/books?isbn=0737747773
Easterly, W. (2001). The middle class consensus and economic development. Journal of Economic Growth, 6(4), 317-335. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197699716?accountid=45049
Eisenhauer, J. G. (2008). An economic definition of the middle class. Forum for Social Economics, 37(2), 103-113. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12143-007-9009-y
Feagin, J. R. (2007). The black middle class: Social mobility-and vulnerability. Contemporary Sociology, 36(5), 433-435. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/233579810?accountid=45049
Morton, L. P. (2004). Segmenting social classes: The middle class. Public Relations Quarterly, 49(3), 46-47. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/222457375?accountid=45049
Pressman, S. (2010). The middle class throughout the world in the mid-2000s. Journal of Economic Issues, 44(1), 243-262. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/89179983?accountid=45049
