Yes, and they're joining what was already a growing underclass. Ever since
about 40,000BC when there was an explosion of innovation, the real
value-adding proportion of fit adults has declined from 100% of GDP to
about 30% (my estimate) today. Or, expressing it in another way, the
proportion of employable adults who are surplus to economic requirements
has grown from 0% to 70%. The decline in the American middle-class is only
a further symptom of a growing skill differential within the modern
economy. The underclass has been expanding upwards -- albeit in surges --
ever since about the 1930s. What used to be called the middle-class a
century ago, joined by what can be called a new technological class, is now
becoming an even more detached "super-class" of specialized networks with
lateral, international loyalties rather than to the nation-state.
Governmental bureaucracies (and their tame politicians) are no more able to
reverse this trend as medieval courtiers were able to convince King Canute
that he could stop the tide.
Keith
At 13:16 03/04/2010 -0700, you wrote:
Middle Class No More, Families Struggle to Fight off Homelessness
Laura Bassett Laura Bassett Thu Feb 4, 5:17 pm ET
A unique feature of this recession is how damaging it has been to the
nation's middle class, driving its members further and further away from
the American Dream and, in some cases, directly into poverty.
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100204/cm_huffpost/450045;_ylt=AhSuHtdHM6fjqZ_sianVoXtH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTMxMDRkb2JnBGFzc2V0A2h1ZmZwb3N0LzIwMTAwMjA0LzQ1MDA0NQRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNtaWRkbGUtY2xhc3M>http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100204/cm_huffpost/450045;_ylt=AhSuHtdHM6fjqZ_sianVoXtH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTMxMDRkb2JnBGFzc2V0A2h1ZmZwb3N0LzIwMTAwMjA0LzQ1MDA0NQRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNtaWRkbGUtY2xhc3M-
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England
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