27 Facts That Show How The Middle Class Has Fared Under 6 Years Of Barack Obama

[jerry]

During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday evening, Barack Obama is going to promise to make life better for middle class families. Of course he has also promised to do this during all of his other State of the Union addresses, but apparently he still believes that there are people out there that are buying what he is selling. Each January, he gets up there and tells us how the economy is “turning around” and to believe that much brighter days are right around the corner. And yet things just continue to get even worse for the middle class. The numbers that you are about to see will not be included in Obama’s State of the Union speech. They don’t fit the “narrative” that Obama is trying to sell to the American people. But all of these statistics are accurate. They paint a picture of a middle class that is dying. Yes, the decline of the U.S. middle class is a phenomenon that has been playing out for decades. But without a doubt, our troubles have accelerated during the Obama years. When it comes to economics, he is completely and utterly clueless, and the policies that he has implemented are eating away at the foundations of our economy like a cancer. The following are 27 facts that show how the middle class has fared under 6 years of Barack Obama…

#1 American families in the middle 20 percent of the income scale now earn less money than they did on the day when Barack Obama first entered the White House.

#2 American families in the middle 20 percent of the income scale have a lower net worth than they did on the day when Barack Obama first entered the White House.

#3 According to a Washington Post article published just a few days ago, more than 50 percent of the children in U.S. public schools now come from low income homes. This is the first time that this has happened in at least 50 years.

#4 According to a Census Bureau report that was recently released, 65 percent of all children in the United States are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government.

#5 In 2008, the total number of business closures exceeded the total number of businesses being created for the first time ever, and that has continued to happen every single year since then.

#6 In 2008, 53 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class”. But by 2014, only 44 percent of all Americans still considered themselves to be “middle class”.

#7 In 2008, 25 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 29-year-old age bracket considered themselves to be “lower class”. But in 2014, an astounding 49 percent of all Americans in that age range considered themselves to be “lower class”.

#8 Traditionally, owning a home has been one of the key indicators that you belong to the middle class. So what does the fact that the rate of homeownership in America has been falling for seven years in a row say about the Obama years?

#9 According to a survey that was conducted last year, 52 percent of all Americans cannot even afford the house that they are living in right now.

#10 After accounting for inflation, median household income in the United States is 8 percent lower than it was when the last recession started in 2007.

#11 According to one recent survey, 62 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck.

#12 At this point, one out of every three adults in the United States has an unpaid debt that is “in collections“.

#13 When Barack Obama first set foot in the Oval Office, 60.6 percent of all working age Americans had a job. Today, that number is sitting at only 59.2 percent…

Employment Population Ratio 2015

#14 While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the average duration of unemployment in the United States has risen from 19.8 weeks to 32.8 weeks.

#15 It is hard to believe, but an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.

#16 At the end of Barack Obama’s first year in office, our yearly trade deficit with China was 226 billion dollars. Last year, it was more than 314 billion dollars.

#17 When Barack Obama was first elected, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio was under 70 percent. Today, it is over 101 percent.

#18 The U.S. national debt is on pace to approximately double during the eight years of the Obama administration. In other words, under Barack Obama the U.S. government will accumulate about as much debt as it did under all of the other presidents in U.S. history combined.

#19 According to the New York Times, the “typical American household” is now worth 36 percent less than it was worth a decade ago.

#20 The poverty rate in the United States has been at 15 percent or above for 3 consecutive years. This is the first time that has happened since 1965.

#21 From 2009 through 2013, the U.S. government spent a whopping 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs.

#22 While Barack Obama has been in the White House, the number of Americans on food stamps has gone from 32 million to 46 million.

#23 Ten years ago, the number of women in the U.S. that had full-time jobs outnumbered the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin. But now the number of women in the U.S. on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have full-time jobs.

#24 One recent survey discovered that about 22 percent of all Americans have had to turn to a church food panty for assistance.

#25 An astounding 45 percent of all African-American children in the United States live in areas of “concentrated poverty”.

#26 40.9 percent of all children in the United States that are living with only one parent are living in poverty.

#27 According to a report that was released late last year by the National Center on Family Homelessness, the number of homeless children in the United States has reached a new all-time record high of 2.5 million.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

The incredibly foolish decisions that have been made by Obama, Congress and the Federal Reserve have brought us right to the precipice of another major financial crisis and another crippling economic downturn.

So as bad as the numbers that I just shared with you above are, the truth is that they are nothing compared to what is coming.

We are heading into the greatest economic crisis that any of us have ever seen, and it is going to shock the world.

I hope that you are getting ready.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/27-facts-show-middle-class-fared-6-years-barack-obama

[WhiteLove]

Thanks for this jerry. I have always known it was bad and this just confirmed it even more. Things need to change on this planet, this is a mess I think any person on the street would conclude when reading this post. The question is then, when is man going to wake up.

I want to wipe out all of the military from the face of this earth at the blink of an eye so that humans and our planet would be saved, I wish I had that power...

[Sunny-side-up]

And how many of the above negative outcomes where set in play intentionally!

[Carmody]

Importantly, it should be noted that things have now moved to the point that ..some states are trying to literally make it against the law to have a third party in federal elections.

Strict enforcement of a two-party system, which is, in effect, not any form of democracy --- but a form of enforced oligarchy and imperialism.

In it's modern form, it hides from the public eye, under layers... as corporate based fascism, that only offers the two parties --- where it controls both.

[panopticon]

Yep, the middle class is in accelerated decline across the globe & inequality is spreading.

All part of the fallout from the GFC, austerity and programs in place allegedly to encourage growth... Then there's continued disgust at the techniques used by Corps & the Uber-rich to avoid contributing to the communities they rely on to exist.

Meanwhile in Greece there has been a startlingly fast rise of the anti-austerity party Syriza who look like they might win the election in a few days (good article from Paul Mason on that here (http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-syriza-election/2941)).

What this will mean to the EU is anyone guess and then there's the Quantitative Easing that the ECB is probably about to introduce that will likely make things interesting (especially as it appears that if Syriza does win then Greece may not be included in the QE program).

Let's not forget that Spain is also suffering under the EU/IMF austerity program and the rise of Podemos seems likely to follow Greece at elections later in the year (for an article on that see here (http://news.yahoo.com/spain-anti-austerity-activists-look-hope-greeces-syriza-184924740.html)).

In Australia the LNP have been trying desperately to get a neoliberal economic program through but the extreme measures they are attempting to implement don't sit well with many Australians. Their attempt to dismantle our universal health care system (one of the best in the world) has seen their support plummet. Once again, it is the middle class that is saying "no more". When our University system was being attacked by the LNP that rose the ire of the sleeping mass, when the LNP went after medicare that showed them to be toerags, now they are going after pensioners, disabled people and their support structures in an attempt to mirror the failed "Big Society" reforms from the UK (the final scathing report released the other day on that debacle can be read here (http://www.civilexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Whose-Society_The-Final-Big-Society-Audit_final.pdf) and there's a short article from the Guardian on it here (http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jan/20/the-big-society-civil-exchange-audit-shows-coalition-contempt-and-hypocrisy)).

The middle class in Australia tries to be fair, it tries to believe in mateship and the myths we were all bought up on. It's the Gallipoli Centenary (http://www.anzaccentenary.gov.au/) this year so all the flag waving and patriotism/nationalism will be on show. Abbott & his ministers constant "ockerisms" are wearing a bit thin though. There are only so many time that we can be called "lifters and leaners" before it gets annoying (though Aussie pollies always troop these sorts of expressions out to seem "real" & "in touch"). The constant rhetoric about the egalitarian nature of Australian society from the LNP just sounds disingenuous given their actions. Anyway, we know, we don't need to be bloody reminded constantly! So when the Government says one thing and does another (without trying to explain why, and don't get me started on the effect their bloody "Pacific Solution" is having on the Aussie myths) the Middle Class (along with the rest of Oz) just turns their backs on them. Oh dear I do go on sometimes...

Anyway, for those interested here's some articles on the decline of the middle class in the UK:
Is the British middle class an endangered species? (http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/24/middle-class-in-decline-society) (July 2010)
The strange death of the British middle class (http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000951/the-missing-middle/) (August 2013)
Marry. Buy a house. Work hard and save. It's the life generations took for granted. But, says a leading historian, a seismic change is under way... The death of the middle classes (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401122/Marry-Buy-house-Work-hard-save-Its-life-generations-took-granted-But-says-leading-historian-seismic-change-way--The-death-middle-classes.html) (August 2013)

In Australia there's also a decline though the Australian economy is based on resources and it really still has to sink in to many that the resource boom is well and truly over. This in turn effects the wider Australian economy and restricts/limits growth via less revenue from exports. Tack on the number of FTA's that Abbott & co have signed over the last 12 months and there are troubles ahead.

Anyway a couple of articles on the Oz Middle Class:

A grim prediction for the middle class (http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/2/17/econo 8200my/grim-prediction-middle-class) (Feb 2014)
The State of the Australian Middle Class (http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context= aabfj) (OK this is actually a journal article from 2008 -- Warning pdf)

So, there we have it. There has been a decline in the Middle Class across the globe that predates the GFC. It goes back a good decade and some would say back another decade beyond that!

In any case, it has been in decline for quite a while and inequality is only getting worse.

Meanwhile Oxfam reports the glorious news that the wealth of the worlds 80 richest people


... is now the same as that owned by the bottom 50% of the global population, such that 3.5 billion people share between them the same amount of wealth as that of these extremely wealthy 80 people (source (http://www.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/Wealth_Having_it_all_and_wanting_more.pdf) -- pdf).

:faint2:

-- Pan

[Peace of Mind]

Hmmm… I’m not experiencing much or any of this in my life, but I’ve been seeing and hearing about these same inequalities and plights way before Obama, there’s nothing new here. I do agree with him on his very powerful notion “change starts with the individual”. Regulating individuals to govern the many will always cause friction. It is why we all need to become more responsible beings. The infancy stage of humanity needs to past before we all can see a change of positive significance. No more selecting "leaders" to lead us and/or do for us what we can do for self and each other. Poli-tricks is all a game, it's the slight of hand trick performed by clever illusionists. They have you looking at something that's not in your life...all the while having you place it there for them. The left or the right, the Democrat's/the Republicans, etc...are all the same. An entity created to further divide humanity, separation creates a stag-nation....it's how they divide and conquer...how to stay in control.

NOW, there should be no turning of the other cheeks, no neglect of servitude, no conflict through competitions. Our competitive nature is to serve the whole of humanity, we are to learn and teach each other, we are to care and share with each other, we are one being experiencing physicality’s through person lessons (for in-depth learning).
If you don’t change the self righteous/self entitled/ irresponsible blind arrogant thinking…how can you not be a part of that very construct? If you don’t hold any of your elected representatives accountable, if you don’t spend quality time focusing on the remedies…. as much as focusing on the problem…how can you not be a part of that very issue?
Your surroundings were created by your thinking. You are what you eat, you are what you indulge in, and you are everything there is to be….except you choose to bring out the inadequacies in life. Why? Because it’s what you choose to spend your time on. Ask yourself… what’s on my mind/where is my attention/ what am I doing that allows me to recognize such hurt in this existence? Being aware of the pain and joy is essential for learning how to avoid it, however, the experience will always come from the intent/focus.
The mind is the birth place of all ideas; everything starts there before it materializes here. If you see and experience stress, it’s because you seek it, your thoughts are driven daily by it, tales and discussions of strife (without remedy/solutions) can only bring about that very unwanted hardship. Filling your field with discord, apathy, and uncertainties will leave you feeling help-less/disempowered/dis-ease.
A problem cannot exist without a solution. While observing from a distance… one can clearly see what is focused on more than the other. In this… life consequences and scenarios are of no mystery to me.

Peace

[jerry]

many don't experience this, so to those it goes unnoticed noticed , but take those who have lost jobs, houses, carriers, and families and have fallen through the preverbal cracks can tell a much more detailed version from experience. But as we move forward more and more are exponentially taking notice. Its broken and getting worse and wont be fixed anytime soon.

[Peace of Mind]

There are billions of people in this world; there are not billions of jobs in this world. You have to be wanted/desired in order to get ahead. If you aren’t …your consideration will be in competition with others…as well as the employers that have enough seniority and appeal to bring in their own people (usually family members/close friends).

When corporations rule the world…they can choose who and when to hire/fire. Throughout my life I have only experienced failure after the thought of failure has entered and settled into my mindset.

When I was fired from a job, it was because I allow myself to get fired. I would always worry about the economy, would always worry and talk about the job situation in my town. I never really proved to my employer how valuable I was to the company, never really cared for the job because it wasn’t something I really wanted to do; I just work there because I needed to pay bills. Ever since then… I’ve changed my thinking and never lost a job I liked again. And, when I wanted to move on, I just imagine where I wanted to be and followed that thought in my heart...i never let anyone else change that. Even in today’s economy I can find any job I want.

I was on my way to work on day and got shot in the arm. Although I wasn’t the intended target during that drive by incident…I knew deep down I brought that on to myself. My presence in this moment came from my own thinking. I used to always worry about crime in my neighborhood, always worried about thugs and guns. Sitting in the hospital changed all of that; everyone in there was whining about something and placing blame on everyone and thing except for themselves. It became clear to me. I promised to never worry about such things again. I still reside in the same neighborhood and it continues to change for the better. Perhaps it’s because of my thinking, and/or the commitments to interacting with my neighbors. Either way I remain active in making what I wanted instead of complaining and doing nothing to get what I wanted.

When I played semi-pro football I was one of the best players in my position (RB), I saw everything in slow- motion, it was easy for me to get zoned. I was always an athletic person and got high from exercising (still do). But, after seeing a team mate gets injured… I started to get worried. Not because I thought the other team was fiercer… it was because of the energy I was taking in at that very moment. The team mates bickering about foul plays, the sudden lack of heart coming from others, my focus on winning was compromised. In the next quarter, I received a freak injury (twisted my knee in the turf) and never played the game again. I brought that injury on myself because I was focused on getting hurt. Being aware of it had no effect on my game…but when I started thinking it can happen to me…BANG, end of game. I can give many of my life examples and elaborate with confidence on how and why I experienced them.
The point is…when you are focused on any giving thought, you are giving that thought energy, and everything in our reality is made this way. Keep feeding that thought and it will manifest, eventually.

To think that times are hard and will not get better any time soon is a defeatist attitude. You can’t see a solution if you’re expecting to go through more problems first, it doesn’t have to be that way at all. We have the intelligence and the abilities to solve any problem immediately. But No solution will arise if the focal point is placed on the problem and not the remedy. When you use the TV, radio, internet, newspaper…you are subjecting yourself to the ideas of others…and most times those ideas are shrewdly wrapped in despair. Why? From my observation...Its' to keep people feeling helpless, disempowered, and most of all... dependent.

Peace

[jerry]

Sounds as though your an exception to the rule. As Bama prepares us for the social economic collapse well on the way. I don't surmise this from watching any MSM programming as they paint a different picture. Its about how they are taking anything not buried or hidden away, stripping wealth from everyday people one regulation at a time. Forcing the now majority into servitude and slavery just to get the basic needs for the slimmest margin of survival. If your unfortunate enough to be in the jobless category or even worse an ssi statistic its no fun. I have my own story of how the system has chewed me up and spat me out but I'm one of the lucky ones the way I see it, knowing it could be a lot worse. "To think that times are hard and will not get better any time soon is a defeatist attitude" well that is correct and I say its reality here in the good ole USA and if you don't see it that way good for you because I wish I was still sleeping myself.
best to you

[Peace of Mind]

To be the exception is the choice I've made a long time ago. We should all feel this way. To experience hardship is also a choice made by the individual. Observing people suffering in life...you will always find the reason why...and its often phycological. They subliminally/ subconsciously hinder themselves by thinking/knowing what certain hurt/pain feels like. They bring it in their lives by way of concentration. If you watch the news and all the negatives consistanty...you will become a part of it.
Instead re-focus your attention on exactly what you want and detact yourself from everything separating you from it, including the tales of other people's misfortunes. To help others you not only have to be able to help yourself...people have to exhibit wanting to help themselves. You don't help yourself by staying focused on the very thing you don't want...that's evidence of a conditioned mind.

Media paints a picture and tricks the masses into bringing it to life with their energetic/emotional thoughts. Everything you see hear touch...came from thought, first. What we are thinking... is what we should be concerned about. How we perceive/handle/leave those thoughts are very important.

Peace

[jerry]

This is all true and while I agree 100% with the points you make and do understand, its still, what it is. While you can turn off, tune out and focus on positive aspects of ones life moving forward we can not afford to ignore the truth of the state of the predicament humanity is in . Hardship is hardship no matter how you spin it in a positive thought process. There's a battle being waged against the world because of greed and power hungry psychos and no amount of loving thoughts will change it for those suffering from poverty imposed on them by the state. The psychology of it is imposed as a war on the consciousness. The negativity of it is avoidable if you have all your necessary needs being met, but for the largest part of the populist that isn't the case and the reason we all need to come together to make the needed changes. Unfortunately this will not happen until the bottom does fall out and every ones awakened to the truth of the matter. Losing a job and growing old is all part of life . These simple matters in todays world become major issues in ones life, not because of focus, underling mental disorders or thought processes, but caused by those making the rules and regulations that bring most to bankruptcy or the loss of a lifetimes savings or more . One may choose to ignore it as to not become involved or caught up in the downward spiral, but downward it goes and sooner or later it will effect all and not just the majority it now weighs on. The system is broke and no amount of turning away or the other cheek can fix it . It will take attention and focus on the very thing all the glass half full crowd want to avoid the most, yes accountability, after the fact.

[Peace of Mind]

Yes, And it all starts from with in, first. That's just not some "new age" saying...Its the truth. What's in the world is a collective manisfestation. Changing a picture on the canvas is best done by ...making a new picture. Doctoring the "already made" picture... will still leave the picture (physically /dimensionall)...residue can be leathal too.

Think a different way, think a different outcome. Get people to recognize its our own power and how they/we are using it. I rather not harp and dwell...its useless.

Through the generations, man/wombman becomes more aware...except with this awareness we recognize it can only truly work through "responsibility". We need to get more disciplined, take control,... or someone/ thing will. Energy is not stagnant...it will be used if it exist. You use it..or give it away. It can only be stored up for so long....

To think of helplessness...is to empowered it. with no sacrifice...you'll just get no...

Peace