Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Disappearing Middle Class Dream

My Budget 360
October 11, 2009



bls-breakdownLast month the American Community Survey detailed the painful 2008 year for American households. This is a comprehensive survey looking at multiple financial, economic, and social characteristics of Americans. What we find is that the average American is having a tougher time maintaining a hold on the middle class dream. This isn’t a revelation but it does help us determine what to expect in the next few years. The American family in fact over the past decade has maintained the illusion of middle class living by going deeper into debt because of stagnant wages. The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve allowed this to occur by injecting liquidity and creating a credit market that had no brakes.


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