A Third of Americans Now Say They Are in the Lower Classes

The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center.

 

Not only has the lower class grown, but its demographic profile also has shifted. People younger than 30 are disproportionately swelling the ranks of the self-defined lower classes. The shares of Hispanics and whites who place themselves in the lower class also are growing.

The survey finds that hard times have been particularly hard on the lower class. Eight-in-ten adults (84%) in the lower classes say they had to cut back spending in the past year because money was tight, compared with 62% who say they are middle class and 41% who say they are in the upper classes.
Those in the lower classes also say they are less happy and less healthy, and the stress they report experiencing is more than other adults.

About three-quarters (77%) say it's harder now to get ahead than it was 10 years ago.

Commenting on this study, gadfly Max Keiser put it succinctly on his television program, the Keiser Report, yesterday: "The United States is a third-world country pretending to be a first-world country."

It looks as if the United States has joined the ranks of the Latain American banana republics and the African kleptocracies.  Just ask the nefarious Koch brothers!

Jagor