LET'S GET TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER, THE DISAPPEARING MIDDLE CLASS.

Thanks brother, I am not a Winger at all, I do not buy into any politics!

But you buy into the generalized scapegoats, and have a pretty shallow analyses. Your GenX critic was spot on. Take it to heart the next time you decide to moralize a whole generation.

Impossible? No way. There has to be a solution....

True, in 1933 29% of U.S. GDP was based on Agriculture, today it is 1%

We're practically on a war footing here in the USA. I'd take one look at the 900 executive orders signed, the 1.5 billion rounds of ammo, thousands of bullet proof guard shacks, 2500+ urban tanks. Roving TSA and DHS stopping people on the highways for no reason ..... and I'd say forget it.

We're practically on a war footing here in the USA. I'd take one look at the 900 executive orders signed, the 1.5 billion rounds of ammo, thousands of bullet proof guard shacks, 2500+ urban tanks. Roving TSA and DHS stopping people on the highways for no reason ..... and I'd say forget it.

I am a Gen X er... My Peers are Gen Xers. How was it shallow?

We have'nt even touched on the end of petroluem... The Britian comment made me think. The U.S. right now is like the British in 1865 when oil was discovered in Penn. There entire infrastructure was built on Coal... We are the New Britian and China is the New U.S.

Your GenX critic posted the response to your question. What dont you understand?

Not really. We are transitioning into natural gas nation. We have so much of it that will sustain us forever. Even, we're coming up with new technologies that would get more oil that was not easily obtainable years ago.

It is scaring other countries because that means they are not selling as much oil as they used to.

Look at this propaganda movie with Matt Damon. Guess who is funding it?

[link to www.breitbart.com]

That's a scary stat!

We got much more efficient! We can produce much more food per acre these days now.

So you took my statement personally, not as a general statement. Sorry

Well, smokas point regarding gen xers is valid. I don't know how you can deny that. My Grandparents would work circles around my generation, even at their age.

You are comparing apples and oranges. I dont know how old are your grandparents, but previous generations had on the job vocational training and a skill set that matched that long ago economy (mostly manufacturing). And it so happens that that skill set was enough to last them their whole lifetime -- and their cumulative experience gave them steady employment in on eprofession,,, which in turn developed their work ethic. It isnt that way today and has not been that way since the 80s.

There are a million and one problems in this country right now. In my opinion, the biggest issue is the shrinking middle class. The massive transfer of wealth from the middle to the top.

I think this is something both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. The reason there is such division is because each side has their own ideas of why it is happening, and what should be done to stop it from happening.

The left says de regulation from Republicans, let Wall St. do what they want and they made bad loans then bet against them. Which is partially true...banks did make loans and bet against them. Their solution, Regulate the shit out of everything they do. Have government constantly over their shoulder. Also more of what they call "consumer protection".


The Right generally likes to put a lot of blame on Fannie and Freddie and Barney Frank. While also acknowledging that banks made these risky loans. Which is partially true, right before the collapse Barney Frank was telling everyone how safe and secure Frannie and Freddie were. Their solution, De regulate Wall St. again. Let the markets work, and if they make bad loans and they get into trouble, let them fail. That the markets will correct themselves.

Either way, when this collapse happened, it sucked trillions from our economy. Who took the hardest hit? The middle class. There was a large transfer of wealth from the middle class to the uber rich.

The banks got a taxpayer bailout, and they also got the houses that people defaulted on.

So, what can we do to get the middle class back? Again there are different solutions on each side of the political spectrum.

In my opinion, the collapse, and disappearance of the middle class are both directly linked to The Federal Reserve. When you artificially keep interest rates low, you create bubbles. Like the housing bubble we saw pop in 08'.

When your currency is devalued, that is a tax on the people. When your money no longer purchases what it used to, that is a tax on the people. When 50 yrs ago, a man could choose to not go to college, and go straight to work, work one job and still provide for his family, then 50 yrs later that same job doesn't even pay the rent......that's not a democrat or republican problem...that's a currency problem.

To me, if we just ended The Fed, had our own congressional issued currency.....that would solve 80% of our problems instantly.

There are still other factors, like China keeping the value of their currency down...certain "trade agreements" that do us no good, only harm. Stagnant wages while inflation is not stagnant...

But all these B.S side issues like, should we raise taxes on the rich? Should we cut certain departments of the Government? Who should pay income tax and who shouldn't? Should we have a fair tax? These are all side issues that derive directly from the problems caused by the federal reserve. Which is just my opinion.

What is your opinion on the shrinking middle class? The transfer of wealth? What can be done to bring back our middle class?

You are dead on with what you are seeing. As written by Karl Marx...everyone read the Communist Manifesto. The middle class has to go to creat a true dictatorship. IF we let it happen. I for one will not.

I will give to you that things were very different.....but work ethic is work ethic. The ww2 generation def had a better work ethic than my generation.

I disagree, and this is backed up by the statistics.

I don't think GenX is lazy and entitled, I think the social contract was broken by corporations and the government.

Everyone I know works hard and worked hard for their education and position. The difference now is that despite increased productivity, the worker's share of the profit has shrunk.

This is incontrovertible fact. Over the last 30 years, wages for the average worker have decreased, productivity has increased. CEO pay has skyrocketed and the finacialization of our economy has meant that it is more profitable to invest in paper than in production.

So, I would place the blame on that, rather than demonize 2 generations to fit your right wing, bullshit views about "entitlement".

How, at this point in the game, do I make any difference at all? I honestly just want the crash of the american dream, start over if I make it. but I am not alone at home and my feelings do not reflect theirs.. I stay with it, keep it together and make life work like I always have, but this suxxx...... Have nothing, want nothing, give give give...... can't make a difference by myself, I don't see a revolution coming either...

Work ethic is simply confidence in your own competence and the ability to master it over a lifetime. With that one actually enjoys work and passing that experience into the next generation. However, too many have lost their enjoyment in the new economy because their hard earned skill set becomes redundant and they have to struggle to "retool" and "retrain" themselves at great expense. This disruption in ones life cycle gets harder to cope with as one gets older. Face it, the GenXers have been given a raw deal compared to previous generations and some of them they know it -- I certainly do. I dont idealize previous generations, they were ordinary people who were lucky enough to live in the time they lived -- no more, no less...

The solution is collapse, a reset. That is the SOULUTION

Then I guess at this point we just agree to disagree.

Holy crap! That's not very clever!

It's simple really.

The west has been forced by itself to compete to SE-Asia on wages through "the holy grail of free trade".

Which means higher profit margins for the companies and higher pay for the rich but a "normal" working guy will make less.

What then ultimately ends up happening is that the "normal" guy can't afford jack shit anymore while the rich can afford even more.

I wasn't trying to be clever?