please help me out a little bit..

At a time when the top one percentile of American population holds over two trillion dollars more of the nations wealth than the bottom 90 percentile holds, it would seem that Americans would have realized that their country is headed in the direction of a major economic disaster. Furthermore, as working class Americans struggle through the worst economic depression in more than twenty years, you would think there would be a desperate attempt to make changes. However, judging by the close outcome of the last several presidential elections, the country is divided, and that as a whole, is very unsure on what exactly is the best long-term solution to our economic problems.

Upon reading the article. “Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide” by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt of the New York Times, I found it incredibly easy to agree with just about every point that was made throughout the multiple page, highly informative, opinionated essay on social classes. The first paragraph quickly caught my attention when it said the working class “voted Democratic, and did not take cruises to the Caribbean”. This struck me interesting in a couple of different ways. Firstly, I believe that lower “working” class people often try to disguise themselves as middle class, and reward themselves as if they belonged in the middle class category. Many families, even those struggling to pay off home loans, and finding themselves deeper and deeper in debt, will often still find a way to attend a sporting event, or take a week long vacation to a tropical island somewhere. And I understand the kind of lifestyle these people have, because I feel like its right. I believe that it is better to live a happy life without money than to live a depressing life with money to spare. Therefore, I was not disappointed by this change in values.

However the part about voting democratic got me thinking. I remembered a chart I had seen in a newspaper a while back that monitored the unemployment rates over the last so many presidential terms. After finding that same chart online, I find it hard to believe that anyone that considers himself or herself working class, or even middle class would ever vote republican. Since 1953, there have been four democratic presidents, each of whom did an exceptional job at lowering unemployment rates. In the same time period there has been six republican presidents, Ronald Regan being the only one of those six that did not RAISE unemployment significantly.

Another thing I read in the article that bothered me was how 40 percent of Americans believed that the chance of moving up from one class to another has risen. I feel the opposite. A study by the Center for American Progress shows that the upper class is not being affected by this depression even nearly as much as working class citizens. Since 1979 the average income for the bottom half of American households has grown by 6 percent. In contrast, the top 1 percent of earners have seen their incomes rise by 229 percent during that same time frame I find it hard to have “faith in the system” when it is quite obvious that the system is not working. I disagree with. One sociologist in the article defined our society as “A ladder with lots of rungs” I could not agree with this more… however, I don’t see our society as having more divisions of “social class” than before. In fact I feel the opposite is true.

I believe that despite common perception, there is no existing middle class. I believe that there is a wealthy class whose residents have enough money to live, and that there is a lower class whose residents have enough money to survive. I consider myself to be a member of the working class community. I feel that my ranking in society has played, and will continue to play an incredible role in my life. I believe that “class” has shaped the person who I am today. I have lived in several different cities in my life, not because my family got tired of one place or another, but because in today’s society you have to follow the money to survive. A working class citizen will take any opportunity to make more money than they are making now, even if that means moving to a different location, placing their children in a different school system, even downsizing from a five bedroom house down to three. I think money can change the way people react to certain things. I know That I have gotten frustrated and angry in the past because of traffic tickets, and payments that I don’t think would have bothered me as much if I wasn’t worried about my economic future.

I strongly believe that classes do exist in society, and that they not only describe, but shape our society, and that in the future I believe I will work harder because I place myself on the lower rungs of the ladder, and because of this I have more motivation to advance myself, and become better. I refuse to take a position at the bottom and stay there. I will take every opportunity to have fun, because that is most important. However I still believe that Americans are separated between the rich and the poor by an invisible boundary. I don’t believe that it is impossible to break that boundary; to climb the ladder into prosperity (so to speak). But I don’t believe that it is possible to that point by working a full time job every day of my life until I retire at 65. I think if I find myself struggling to make a living, I will change the work I’m doing, rather than increase it, because at that point it would be obvious to me that I was doing something wrong. I believe that America is becoming more and more like a monarchy, or even dictatorship, but I don’t think it will ever get to that point, for eventually it will get to the point where we will have to step up and do something about it. Take my advice. Live your life. Enjoy your life. Fight the Power