Lynch Pen | Who is in the middle class of America?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The financial community - business news programs, the Wall Street Journal, etc. - frequently talk about the effect our nation’s current economic plight has and will continue to have on America’s “middle class.” Not really knowing what the term meant and wanting to make sure I didn’t suffer something without even knowing it, I had to research the term in an attempt to identify myself.

Heaven forbid I should be even worse off than I realized.

The source of my research was Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia available to anyone with a computer.

The first thing I discovered was the sociologists, not the stockbrokers or news media, have provided the information on this special means of defining American “income/social structure/life style.” According to this source, a sociologist named C. Wright Mills conducted one of the first important studies of the American “middle classes in 1951.” Needless to say, the topic has gotten a lot of attention since then and subsequently there are numerous choices in how you define “middle class.”

The encyclopedia, Wikipedia, provides specific breakdowns of various income/life style/job or position from three major Academic Class Models (thosebasically used in teaching circles). The sources - Dennis Gilbert, 2002; Leonard Beeghley, 2004; and William Thompson and Joseph Hickey, 2005 - varygreatly in how they identify the “middle class,” but they agree on how to identify the very top income level.

The top one percent of our nation’s population are commonly educated in Ivy League universities, have incomes that generally exceed $350,000 (after taxes, I’m sure) and include (surprise!) high rung politicians. They might be called Upper Class, Super Rich or Capitalists, but they are definitely not middle class.

As a footnote, I have met several Ivy League alumni who were definitely not in this one percent category.

They are not to be confused with those who were in that select one percent.

The few one-percenters I met were easily identified by their Rolls Royce and exclusive country club memberships.

When our academic scholars got below the one percent level, the breakdowns began to vary and trying to find where I fit into this chart of titles (professions, education and income primarily determining the breakdown) became difficult. At least the decision is easy if you are very rich. One of the researchers defined households with a net worth of $1 million or more (including their home equity) as “the Rich” and gave the nextfive percent as the percent of the population fitting into this area. The other two research groups (Gilbert and Thompson and Hickey) listed the “Upper Middle Class” as the next 15 percent of the population following the one percent. They were identified as highly educated, frequently professionals and with incomes for the household running from the high five-figure range to over $100,000. Thompson and Hickey were much more detailed in their use of household income in their 2005 study than was Dennis Gilbert in his 2002 work. I had no trouble knowing I do not fit into upper middle class.

Thompson and Hickey defined the Lower Middle Class as having a household income commonly in the $35,000 to $75,000 range and gave 32 percent of the population as falling in this range. This obviously excludes people living solely on a monthly Social Security check or a Government Disability Income. At this point Thompson and Hickey have accounted for 48 percent of the nation’s population. It is probably safe for me to conclude that if the middle class is going to be hit the hardest by the current “economic adjustment,” and I don’t qualify as middle class, I’m safe from the worst condition scenario.

In reality I never found a category that properly defined my current situation in all areas - employment position, educationand household income and working activities.

Conditions have changed radically since my professional days and the advent of defining our society by Mr. Mills back in 1951. If the economic gurus want me to suffer along with “middle class” America they are going to have to drop the lower limits of the middle class or give the whole study a reworking. Maybe I’m just part of the “lost class” of Americans.

Whatever changes must take place to establish a “new normal” of lifestyle in our nation, I’m sure we’ll adapt. As Americans we have proven we can and will do whatever is necessary to make and keep America great. From the Revolutionary War to World Wars, depressions and dust bowls and in spite of Wall Street greed and the likes of Bernie Madoff,we will adjust. We may be required to make some serious changes in our political structure and fire a lot of career politicians, but we will adapt.

And, maybe, just maybe, the sociologists will find a way to put retired people benefiting from Social Security and Medicare into the social-economic scheme of things. God bless America.

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Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 07/21/2010