Suggested Discussion Outline

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TheChancellors
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Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by TheChancellors »

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[Reading Liberally Editorial Note: The following outline was prepared by Tom Chancellor who has also agreed to lead the discussion Wednesday evening (at least according to his definition = starting off the discussion and expecting everyone else to join in).]

A. What do we mean when we talk of the middle class?

A-1. Is the test strictly the level of income or wealth?
A-2. If not, what are the criteria?
A-3. At the lower end, where is the line between the middle class and the poor? The official poverty level? The most recent government report puts 15.1% of the population (46.2 million) below the poverty line.

B. It seem clear that the economic situation of the nonprovessional middle class (high school graduates) is, and has been for many years, deteriorating.

B-1. Dramatic increase in income/wealth inequality.
B-2. Stagnation of middle class wages.
B-3. Decline of unions in private sector.
B-4. Inability/unwillingness of many nonprofessional men to adapt to the new economic realities.

C. Going forward, should the U.S. middle class matter to us or is it our destiny to have the rich and the rest?

C-1. Manufacturing: the U.S. is still the #2 manufacturer in the world but at least 1/3 of these jobs have been eliminated -- either outsourced to China et al. or because of automation. For the future, there will continue to be manufacturing but many manufacturing jobs are located in States where the plants will not be unionized (e.g., foreign auto manufacturers & Boeing plant in South Carolina).
C-2. Agriculture: a vast U.S. business but it employs relatively few Americans -- both because of increased mechanization and because Americans do not want the stoop labor jobs and immigrants are used.
C-3. The U.S. economy has become a service economy and an information technology economy. While there will be a big need for educated, high pay professionals and many lower skilled low wage workers, there will be much less need for all those in between.

D. Should the period after World War-II to 1980 -- a period generally of great prosperity for the middle class -- be considered an aberration or the norm to which we should seek to return?

E. If we want to save the middle class, how can it be done?

E-1. Restore the importance of unions.
E-2. Reduce inequality through taxation to provide funds for programs?
E-3. Vocational training; improve status of low skilled jobs?

*****
Editorial Note: The following ideas for saving the middle class have also been posted on http://www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org =

(A) June Taylor (aka Utah Owl) posted in the Reference Materials section of this bulletin board some information on U.S. tax policy that provides good context for the U.S. Senate vote this coming week on President Obama's jobs bill. [As you are probably aware, the Democratice Leadership of the Senate substituted for President Obama's suggestions of how to "pay" for the jobs bill, a provision that it would be wholly financed by a higher income tax rate on the wealthy.]

(B) John Karls made the following suggestion in Answer 12 of the Suggested Answers to the Short Quiz that were included in the October 1st weekly e-mail to our membership of 150 and were also posted in the Participant Comments section of this bulletin board =

"If nobody else has any suggestions, then Yours Truly would propose we discuss the U.S. adoption of: (1) the French higher-education model that all education (including college and post-graduate) is free and open to all on the basis of competitive examinations, and (2) the British/French models of free medical care for all (vs. the Swiss model of requiring citizens to purchase health insurance, which is the basic idea behind the "individual mandate" of the Massachusetts and Obama models)."

UtahOwl
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Re: Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by UtahOwl »

I would like to add two things we might discuss, under Ideas for Saving the Middle Class:
  • Something John K suggested in a letter to Pres Obama: "it is recommended that you announce a new policy accompanied by legislation, if necessary - (A) that the U.S. Government will patent all discoveries resulting from basic research that it funds, and (B) that the U.S. Government will license such discoveries for commercial use provided that the licensees, whether U.S.- or foreign-based, conduct in the United States any manufacturing operations utilizing the technology." I think this, with proper enforcement as suggested by John, would increase the size of the manufacturing sector in the U.S., which we really need to do.
  • Institute the German system of education for skilled trades, which in my experience produces workers with very high skill levels, both in manufacturing skills and also traditional crafts, e.g., cabinetmaking.

UtahOwl
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Re: Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by UtahOwl »

Pursuant to our discussion this week, I found this video of a speech by Elizabeth Warren on The Coming Collapse of the Middle Classto be very illuminating. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0 ... e=youtu.be

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