[Leica] Steinbeck and Lange

[csaganich at gmail.com (Chris Saganich)]

Yes, those who are middle class are experiencing difficulty keeping heads
above water and are also feeling like they are one paycheck away from
homelessness.  Eventually, and many indicators suggest this now, that the
middle class has become a part of an expansion of the exploitable class,
which includes the poor and immigrants.  So, the current policies are
helping pave the way for a completely exploitable middle class, which viewed
from that context seem rather obvious.  One of the first indicators is the
increasing number of stratification within what we consider the middle
class.  The current strata include working poor, lower middle class, middle
class, upper-middle class; expect to see the emergence of additional
categories like the educated poor.  The neoliberal restructuring that began
in the 80's has doubled the share of income earned by the top 1%, from a low
of about 7% in the early 70's to 20% today.  Similar but less dramatic
increases are apparent for the top 10%.  This amounts to a radical
redistribution of wealth in the past 20 years, which is currently on par
with with pre 1929 levels.  So, currently wealth distribution is about where
it was before the '29 crash suggesting that most of the "new deal"
redistribution mechanisms have been undermined..except medicare and
medicaid.  Those are the last ones standing.  The poor and middle class have
been asleep at the wheel (or watching too much TV) while "job creators" have
systematically reinvented the entire wealth distribution process to enrich
themselves in the name of god, capitalism, and freedom...which are all the
same thing apparently.

On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 10:21 AM, scleroplex <scleroplex at gmail.com> wrote:

> well said.
> and no one is interested in helping the middle class thrive and be an
> inspiration to children of the working poor.
> middle class erosion since 1980 has been tremendous.
> all policies for the past 30 years have been designed to drive more
> wealth into the capital markets for exporting offshore.
> bharani
>
>
> From: Chris Saganich <csaganich at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Steinbeck and Lange
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <CAN4TZQ6LkztoHo-c7KT1M6KSfE9LQuOzNN9H3wc+vnOFyH=fEQ at 
> mail.gmail.com
> >
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> I think that the middle class has been redefined and no one had the guts to
> inform us.  None of the people encountered are, IMO, middle class.  Rather
> they are working (now non-working) poor.  One of the distinctions between
> MC
> and WP is availability of resources from the previous generation and
> education, to name two.  WP have none, nothing to fall back on, while to be
> middle class suggests there are some non-governmental safety nets available
> and some education, Masters these days, BA or BS is like a GED in 1984 and
> mostly useless.  This, of course, doesn't even start to address the
> employment racism, bias, and discrimination in the good'ol USA.  Too be
> classified as MC your income should have been at least 70,000 prior to
> unemployment and you should have at least a Master degree in something,
> else
> your were just working poor one paycheck away from homelessness.
> CS
>
> On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 9:14 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net
> >wrote:
>
> > Doesn't seem to matter to our officials in DC..................
> >
> > Jim Nichols
> > Tullahoma, TN USA
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tina Manley" <images at 
> > comporium.net>
> > To: "lug" <lug at leica-users.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 7:31 PM
> > Subject: [Leica] Steinbeck and Lange
>
> _______________________________________________
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>



-- 
Chris Saganich
www.imagebrooklyn.com