Can America rebuild its vanishing middle class?

Wrong!

Trump has created The Biggest Middle Class of all time.

Have you been to Walmart lately. 🥁

11 hours ago, TedG said:

If I earned it, is it my property? Correct?

No, what’s yours is after taxes paid

10 hours ago, ericthai said:

I think this article is mixing opinions with facts.

First, where does this "$50 trillion was transferred from workers to the top 1%" come from? That wasn't money that was actually taken from workers. It's based on an economic model that estimates what incomes might have looked like if things had stayed the same after WWII. That's a theory, not proof that corporations somehow took $50 trillion from working Americans.

They also compare today to the 1950s and 60s like it's apples to apples. It isn't. Back then America had very little competition after WWII, manufacturing was booming, houses were much cheaper, healthcare and college cost a fraction of what they do today and families generally lived with a lot less.

Another thing I disagree with is the idea that every job should support a family. That's never been the case. Jobs like paper routes, fast-food cashier, grocery bagger and other entry-level positions were meant to help people get experience, not be lifelong careers. Forcing businesses to pay whatever politicians decide doesn't create wealth. It usually means higher prices, fewer jobs or more automation.

On immigration, the article only tells one side of the story. Of course if you suddenly remove a large number of workers from an industry there will be short-term disruptions. But it's also common sense that millions of people working illegally, many for below-market wages put downward pressure on wages for American workers. Ignoring that doesn't make it untrue.

Finally, I don't see MAGA out there trying to divide people. What I see is enforcing existing immigration laws, securing the border, bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., and creating more American jobs. You can disagree with those policies, but that's very different from saying they're based on division.

It’s not based in any estimate of what anything might of looked like.

The article clearly states the actual collapse of affordability Americans face.

We also have the data on the collapse of employee share of corporate income.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A4002E1A156NBEA

On 7/14/2026 at 3:34 AM, SiSePuede419 said:

RAND Corporation estimates that roughly $80 trillion shifted from the bottom 90 percent of Americans to the top 1 percent between 1975 and today.

There's your problem right there!

I asked Chat why, it basically called it End of the “postwar economic model”

➡️ Policies increasingly favored wealth accumulation at the top

Top tax rates fell (e.g., 70% → ~37%)

Capital gains taxes lowered

Financial sector deregulation

Stronger protections for capital vs labor

I told Chat none of these things happen by themselves, who is responsible?

If you force a single answer, the best evidence-based summary is:

👉 Mostly: the Republican Party

—but with an important qualifier that the outcome wouldn’t have happened at this scale without Democratic participation or acceptance

Conclusion: Stop voting for Republicans and Democrats who act like Republicans

Mandami is The 💯 Correct Answer

If both parties stopped trying to benefit the super-rich at the expense of everyone else then the US would be a great place. The rot started with Reagan.

Can America rebuild its vanishing middle class?

No. Not as as long as a billionaire class wants as close as 100% of the nation's wealth in their own pockets and continually push Congress to enact laws that allow them to harvest wealth from the 99% in a predatory fashion. The US middle class is dead and the American Dream is a thing of the past.

16 hours ago, TedG said:

I'm up to date on the IRS code that pertains to my situation. Looking at this as a philosophical matter, whose money is it when someone earns it? The person who earned the money? Or the governments?

While we're moving goalposts...

Looking at this as a philosophical matter:

Who won the 2020 U.S. presidential election?

Hint: 'A philosophical matter' is one that relates to fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, existence, values, and reason.

Adapt or die. Things change but the opportunity remains. You think those first immigrants didn't face constant hardship.

The dream is alive. Question is are you man enough to get it.

I rather doubt it.

The US is quite rapidly being restructured into a society in which the nations wealth is held almost exclusively by a very small number of unimaginably wealthy individuals.

The rest of the population are effectively a "helot" class, focussed on survival, with no real educational, property owning or healthcare opportunities

The " professional" middle classes, doctors, lawyers, managers and so forth find their opportunities drying up as well; the oligarchs do not value the services and functions they provide and the working class (the helots) simply cannot afford their services.

The ruthless pursuit of wealth is reducing the society to a state of pre classical barbarism.

It is quite likely that "the wheels" could come off.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by JAG

4 hours ago, LosLobo said:

While we're moving goalposts...

Looking at this as a philosophical matter:

Who won the 2020 U.S. presidential election?

Hint: 'A philosophical matter' is one that relates to fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, existence, values, and reason.

Speaking of moving the goal posts. What is this garbage?

Wealthy American families are increasingly seeking to book assets outside the United States — a shift so pronounced that one of Citi’s top wealth executives says she’s never seen anything like it in her career.

Donald Trump's wonderful management of America is sending people with the ways and means to get out fleeing for the exits.

Everyone else where's your favorite place to steal ketchup packets so you can afford to eat lunch...?

XXOO

9 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

No, what’s yours is after taxes paid

You believe it's the governments money first?

9 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Trump and the Republicans are ‘the left’?

Sorry...the Democrats are the wrecking ball of the left. Would you like to talk about their destructive policies? Such as open borders and the expansion of the social welfare state?

5 minutes ago, TedG said:

You believe it's the governments money first?

You believe you should pay a higher tax rate than Billionaires? 😂

Edited July 15Jul 15 by SiSePuede419
😂

3 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

You believe you should pay a higher tax rate than Billionaires? 😂

How much doe a billionaire make in income?

3 minutes ago, TedG said:

How much doe a billionaire make in income?

How much do you make that you are so concerned that Billionaires might required to pay tax at the same rate?

I’m sure they appreciate you shilling for them.

5 minutes ago, TedG said:

How much doe a billionaire make in income?

"Horticulture" 😭

5 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Who won the 2020 U.S. presidential election?

Can I use a joker and call a family member for advice on the answer?

26 minutes ago, TedG said:

Sorry...the Democrats are the wrecking ball of the left. Would you like to talk about their destructive policies? Such as open borders and the expansion of the social welfare state?

I think you have forgotten as a blinkered MAGA supporter that Trump is the wrecking ball of the world with his destructive military and economic actions.

NON Americans do not give a fig about US open borders and the expansion of the social welfare state!

That is a US problem and not the rest of the WORLD's problem(s)!

What Trump does inside of the US is up to the US as the US voted for him!

What HE does outside the US impacts the whole world who had no say in his election and want RID of him ASAP!

PS; I am NOT anti the US but strongly against what Trump does to the rest of the world!

Edited July 15Jul 15 by scottiejohn

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

How much do you make that you are so concerned that Billionaires might required to pay tax at the same rate?

I’m sure they appreciate you shilling for them.

To compare my tax rate with a billionaire. I need to know much about billionaire makes in income.

How much does a billionaire make in income?

1 hour ago, scottiejohn said:

I think you have forgotten as a blinkered MAGA supporter that Trump is the wrecking ball of the world with his destructive military and economic actions.

NON Americans do not give a fig about US open borders and the expansion of the social welfare state!

That is a US problem and not the rest of the WORLD's problem(s)!

What Trump does inside of the US is up to the US as the US voted for him!

What HE does outside the US impacts the whole world who had no say in his election and want RID of him ASAP!

PS; I am NOT anti the US but strongly against what Trump does to the rest of the world!

I don't care about the world. I care about the dems destructive policies at home.

26 minutes ago, TedG said:

I don't care about the world. I care about the dems destructive policies at home.

Then I suggest that you post totally internal US political posts on a US website and not on an Asian website!

23 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Then I suggest that you post totally internal US political posts on a US website and not on an Asian website!

The topic is about the middle class in the USA