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A long and persistent middle class

Posted: Dec 7, 2010

This is some really interesting info with graphs showing income trends under the following presidents and how the gap started widening in 1981. 37th - Richard M Nixon (1969-1974) 38th - Gerald R Ford (1974-1977) 39th - Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) 40th - Ronald W Reagan (1981-1989) 41st - George Bush (1989-1993) 42nd - William J Clinton (1993-2001) 43th - George W Bush (2001-2009) ;

Sheesh, this makes me feel kind of - sick

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at my stomach.

I guess we MTs must be the flat line at the bottom.... - Nocturnal MT

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Either that, or they forgot to add the line underneath that, that goes steadily downward.

Why did wage stagnation happen? - Corporate profits

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If US workers do not comply with wage and benefit reductions, corporations threaten to move jobs to other countries (and have). Employees live in fear that their job will be next and learn to say and do whatever the corporation wants. Unions have been weakened because of the dog-eat-dog mentality of fighting for the leftovers. The interests of the big corporations and US Chamber of Commerce have directed huge amounts of money in order to elect mostly Republican candidates and affect policy. The very same people who are so afraid of losing their jobs have voted for the Republicans whose goal is to promote corporate interests of increasing profits and deregulation and reducing labor costs of wages and benefits (health insurance) Apparently, they are getting what they paid for. The upper class is getting richer, and it is coming out of the middle income class. Sad.

Well said - sm

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I have always been surprised to see middle class people voting republican. They have always been for corporations and wealthy, not middle class.

and what have the Dems been for? - sm

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SPENDING, SPENDING AND THEN SOME MORE SPENDING. sorry, but I do not want any more of the Democratic debt.

Apparently, cleaning up Pub messes. - nm

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apparently not - GOPmt

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obama has spent more money than any other president in history AND unemployment has risen almost 3 points higher than he promised it would.

Yes, that's one pub mess harder to clean up - than anticipated

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and the pubs just keep on and on and on stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. Not to mention adding millions to the deficit.

This might hold water if we were not further in the hole... - after 4 years of Dems

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in Congress and 2 years with Dem president...than we were when Bush left. I think the object is to do BETTER than the last guy...not WORSE. Keeping campaign promises that would have helped the deficit (like cutting programs that were not working..that would be about 85% of them) instead of ramming through another failed stimulus and the mother of all budget busters health plan...but oh, Dems are the party of spend, spend, spend, tax the rich, spend, spend, and when taxing the rich isn't enough, hey middle class, BOHICA.

It's not correct to give full blame or full credit for - anything

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to one party unless both parts of the house are controlled by the same party as the president; however, it is still not accurate to come to a conclusion based on this alone. Filibusters and refusal and motions to recommit, (among other things) play a big role in a congress which has more of one party than the other.

The Clinton Presidency from 1993-1997 showed historical economic growth and a surplus/deficit. See link for what Clinton was able to accomplish with cooperation from the house and senate.

Year Congress President/Senate (100)/House (435)
2009 111th D D - 55*** D - 256
2007 110th R D - 51** D - 233
2005 109th R R - 55 R - 232
2003 108th R R - 51 R - 229
2001 107th R D* R - 221
1999 106th D R - 55 R - 223
1997 105th D R - 55 R - 228
1995 104th D R - 52 R - 230
1993 103rd D D - 57 D - 258
1991 102nd R D - 56 D - 267
1989 101st R D - 55 D - 260
1987 100th R D - 55 D - 258
1985 99th R R - 53 D - 253
1983 98th R R - 54 D - 269
1981 97th R R - 53 D - 242
1979 96th D D - 58 D - 277
1977 95th D D - 61 D - 292
1975 94th R D - 60 D -291
1973 93rd R D - 56 D - 242
1971 92nd R D - 54 D - 255
1969 91st R D - 57 D - 243
1967 90th D D - 64 D - 247
1965 89th D D - 68 D - 295
1963 88th D D - 66 D - 259
1961 87th D D - 64 D - 263

The Myth of the Clinton Surplus.... - see inside.

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See link for the Myth of the Clinton Surplus.

Also...my point is any congress at any time has the ability to STOP SPENDING and CUT COSTS. Neither side has seemed to want to do that, but the Dems in these last 2 years and have been WAY over the top. It is pretty hard to almost double a deficit in 2 years, but they have managed to do it. The Dem answer always seems to be spend more and raise taxes on the "rich." Why not cut costs and not raise the taxes on anybody, and make EVERYBODY pay their share of taxes? Why not try that for awhile?

This is where knowing how a "surplus" is - defined would

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come in handy. This fellow appears to be capitalizing on the fact that most Americans do not know.

The facts show that there was indeed a "surplus" under Clinton.

Please post said facts which show what... - this fellow is capitalizing on.

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and the facts that show that there was indeed a "surplus"under Clinton, and the facts that state any "surplus" was based on no additional spending for I believe it was 2 years...

Please post those facts. Thanks! :-)

Nope - look it up. Definitely not hard to find. - Of

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particular interest may be all the information available comparing Reagan to Clinton spending.

Both parties need to work together, not point - Backwards Typist

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fingers at each other and not fight among themselves.

I have never seen such a divided House and Senate such as we have today.

That, I blame on Obama for not being a President, but allowing others to rule that don't give a dang about the agenda unless it's their own baby.

It all started back when he became President and he set the course when he stated, "I'm the President now". Remember that? It was like he was challenging the pubs to do exactly what happened. That comment also insinuated the dems would be able to rule without concessions or compromise.

That's exactly how I look at it. Now that Obama got tough the other day on the tax extension, most of the dems are up in arms over it. So, here we go again.

Obama did not learn a thing in his 2 years as President, but I think he's learning now...2 years too late.

Well now the pubs have to clean up the dems mess - sm

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The dems have spent, spent, spent, spent, spent. They have done nothing for the middle income people. All they have done is get their rich wall street, CEOs, and banker friends rich, oh yes, and themselves too. Hey can't forget voting themselves in a pay raise while all of America is suffering. And can't forgot the contributions of Frank, Dodd, and all the other dems.

The dems sure have left one mess for pubs to clean up. I wish them luck.

The pubs just increased the deficit by giving millionaires - tax breaks that aren't paid for.nm

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nm

The Dems have increased the deficit for the last 4 years - and paid for zip.

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and I believe if you will check you will see that Dems voted for this proposal as well. At least some of them understand you should leave taxes alone in a down economy.

Hey, why not cut costs? Get rid of programs that don't work? Stop the hemorrhaging in other words. What the Dems really need to understand is that you can't tax enough to keep RAISING what you spend without cutting back somewhere to pay for it. Dems have made a history of spending that wasn't paid for....equaling unparalleled deficit.

All the Republicans care about is that the rich - get richer.nm

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nm

Well, then Dems should LOVE the Republicans... - then they can tax them EVEN more!!

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nm

And what's even worse is that we'll wind up borrowing this - $800,000 BILLION dollars (sm)

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to make the rich even richer, from China.

The Republicans complained about unemployment compensation because they said we couldn't afford to pay for it and they want the "pay go" system where if you want it, you must find a way to pay for it.

I guess that's okay for everyone EXCEPT the rich, who have had 10 years of tax cuts and have cut jobs, instead of creating new ones.

Of course, when this is said and done, the Republicans will say that it's Obama's fault that the rich got the tax cuts that we couldn't afford to give them, even though the Republicans are holding the unemployed hostage until the rich can get even richer (which includes most of these politicians themselves).

What a bunch of greedy, heartless people who consistently work AGAINST the interests of the middle class. Yet these people still keep voting for them.

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