Tariq Siddiqui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said
" . . . It is headed to a country where a privileged few reside along with a squeezed middle class and the ever increasing millions of poor."
I think this more aptly describes the state of affairs in the USA. India's middle class is growing and I don't see it being "squeezed". There is a lot of optimism in India today. This is evident when I talk to people in Goa. But I also hasten to add that many still think there are greener pastures elsewhere.
Tim de Mello
At the risk of being responsible for digressing from the topic and getting dragged into another protracted exchange, is there any data in the US context to support the thought expressed above? That which I have looked tells quite a different story (yes, there is increasing concentration of wealth in the US and yes, there are a number of the working poor in this country, but the middle class getting "squeezed"! I wonder what that word suggests!). I know that the level of pain is always relative and that there is much that ails the US economically. It also may very well be that the fiscal policies of the current administration may come back to haunt us down the road. The rich recently may have gotten richer at a much faster pace than the middle class in the US, but to imply that the latter groups are experiencing a burdensome life is to deny reality. I would also add that those in Goa who "think there are greener economic pastures elsewhere" are not wrong, in as far as the US is concerned. :-)
For instance, using the criteria of "optimism" (loosely defined), a poll earlier this year suggested that consumers in New Jersey appeared quite confident about their future (and most of these respondents would be classified as belonging to one of the middle-classes). This sentiment appears to be consistent with those reported by most national studies too, the periodic swings in the Michigan consumer index notwithstanding. Then again, maybe there is some other data that tells a different story about the middle class in the US. Would love to see it.
Best, James
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