Middle Class Dying Under Obama

The middle class has suffered immensely under Barack Obama’s presidency, and recent data shows just how significant the decline has been.

The Pew Research Center released a report on Thursday showing that in the beginning of 2015, there were fewer middle class households than upper and lower-income households. This would be the first time in over forty years that this has been the case.

The study found that in the beginning of this year there were 120.8 million middle class households, while there were 121.3 million in upper and lower-income households combined. Here are some graphics they include their report:

Some of the key findings in the report:

• Median income in middle class households declined by 4 percent between 2000-2014.
• Median wealth for middle class households declined by a stunning 28 percent between 2001-2013.
• Americans living in middle class households declined from 61 percent in 1971 to 50 percent in 2015.
• Gains in middle and lower-income households lagged behind gains for upper-income households.

This is unfortunately what happens during a period of lackluster economic growth – people are pushed out of the middle class and into less than ideal economic situations. The root of the problem is the federal government. Some examples of federal policies that have kept economic growth stagnant include:

• nearly $19 trillion debt, $210 trillion in unfunded liabilities
• 80,000 pages of regulation per year
• Overly complex tax code
• Obamacare
• Student loan debt
• Massive influx of unskilled immigrants

The real tragedy of the decline of the middle class is that the so-called millennials have lost confidence in the American Dream. Bloomberg reported that a survey conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics shows that 48 percent of millennials believe that the American Dream is dead, and 49 percent believe that it is alive.

John Della Volpe, the institute’s polling director told Bloomberg that millennials’ lack of faith in the American dream “is tied into a government they don’t trust and they don’t think is working for them.”

But as radio host Rush Limbaugh pointed out in April 2014, the youth for some reason don’t blame Obama.

“They’re just losing faith in the country,” Limbaugh said. “They’re just thinking America’s over. They’re just thinking America’s best days are finally behind us. There is no great American dream in my future, they’re saying. They don’t blame Obama. They blame the system. They blame the country. They blame whatever.”