Connecticut Stud
New member
Democrats have been relentless in recent weeks, insisting they are on a mission to help the ailing American middle class.
"The middle class is being squeezed - squeezed," said incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Along with Iraq, the problems of the middle class were central to the election," said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District. "We heard from people who deal with this day in and day out. Their problems are palpable."
Wait a minute, say conservatives.
The economy has been growing since November 2001. Unemployment last month dropped to 4.4 percent, a five-year low.
Most middle-class people today have cellphones, fast Internet access, DVD players and more than one car. "Most Americans now enjoy luxuries that in the past only the well-off could afford," said James Sherk, policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis.
"Almost all Americans have better health, education, housing and consumer goods than they did even a decade ago," he said.
Just who is a member of the middle class?
That's easy, said Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District. "I define it by the people I meet at Augie and Ray's," he said, a restaurant in East Hartford that's popular with skilled blue-collar workers from the adjacent Pratt & Whitney jet-engine plant.
More analytical commentators have differed for years on how to measure the middle class. Should net worth be the yardstick? If so, the Federal Reserve says, people in the middle would have a median family net worth - assets minus liabilities - of a healthy $93,100 in 2004, up from $70,800 in 1995.
Or should the measurement be median household income? By that measure, the midpoint was $46,326 last year, according to the Census Bureau. But median income varies widely by region, age and racial groups.
The median for New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland, for instance, was estimated to be nearly twice as high as that of Mississippi and West Virginia.
http://www.courant.com/news/politic...27,0,1998469.story?coll=hc-headlines-politics
So it can be argued that chap is loaded, but they would like you to think that they are "middle class" with their incomes well over 93,000 dollars....
James Shirk fails to note that while once offered luxurys of high price, once they become obsolete the price comes down... So that way po' dems can afford them... Cell phones used to be big and bulky but now they are made in China for pennies...
on a second note, i don't see how the dems proposal of raising the min wage, or reducing college loan rates really help the middle class... none of their initiatives help me at all... Cutting taxes would best help the middle class in my opinion and it would help all of the middle class... Rasing the minimum wage most likely helps the poor and those who don't pay any taxes period.
"The middle class is being squeezed - squeezed," said incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Along with Iraq, the problems of the middle class were central to the election," said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District. "We heard from people who deal with this day in and day out. Their problems are palpable."
Wait a minute, say conservatives.
The economy has been growing since November 2001. Unemployment last month dropped to 4.4 percent, a five-year low.
Most middle-class people today have cellphones, fast Internet access, DVD players and more than one car. "Most Americans now enjoy luxuries that in the past only the well-off could afford," said James Sherk, policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis.
"Almost all Americans have better health, education, housing and consumer goods than they did even a decade ago," he said.
Just who is a member of the middle class?
That's easy, said Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District. "I define it by the people I meet at Augie and Ray's," he said, a restaurant in East Hartford that's popular with skilled blue-collar workers from the adjacent Pratt & Whitney jet-engine plant.
More analytical commentators have differed for years on how to measure the middle class. Should net worth be the yardstick? If so, the Federal Reserve says, people in the middle would have a median family net worth - assets minus liabilities - of a healthy $93,100 in 2004, up from $70,800 in 1995.
Or should the measurement be median household income? By that measure, the midpoint was $46,326 last year, according to the Census Bureau. But median income varies widely by region, age and racial groups.
The median for New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland, for instance, was estimated to be nearly twice as high as that of Mississippi and West Virginia.
http://www.courant.com/news/politic...27,0,1998469.story?coll=hc-headlines-politics
So it can be argued that chap is loaded, but they would like you to think that they are "middle class" with their incomes well over 93,000 dollars....
James Shirk fails to note that while once offered luxurys of high price, once they become obsolete the price comes down... So that way po' dems can afford them... Cell phones used to be big and bulky but now they are made in China for pennies...
on a second note, i don't see how the dems proposal of raising the min wage, or reducing college loan rates really help the middle class... none of their initiatives help me at all... Cutting taxes would best help the middle class in my opinion and it would help all of the middle class... Rasing the minimum wage most likely helps the poor and those who don't pay any taxes period.
