August 5th, 2011 3:00 PM
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died
By Michael Moore [ARTICLE (http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/30-years-ago-today)]
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Is this what I tell my kids when they ask why they are strapped with all the bills?
My Personal take is that there is no middle class. There is the rich and everyone else. And if you are not among the rich, well it sux to be you.
Ditto.
Maybe this will get moved to politics so I can really voice an opinion...
The middle class began to fade during the 1970's. Jobs were shipped overseas, women were hired to do traditionally male jobs but at much lower wages, and the economy tanked. The reason women were was that it was cheap labor. GENNEE
Remembering the Real Ronald Reagan, from 'Capitalism: A Love Story' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvVAPsn3Fpk#)