Globalization and the shrinking middle class

[Renton]

The working class today has a higher standard of living and is far better off than the working class of 1910. The working class of today's standard of living is probably closest to that of the upper middle class of 1910. What does this mean? What relevant deductions can we make from this?

I think you mean 1970, but no matter. The deductions to be made are that regardless of facile comparisons of wages or costs of goods between the two points in time, it's clear that standards of living have been continually on the rise since then.

Classes are relative to each other. Also you point out that the internet didn't exist, much less would it be a bill that is essentially necessary today. This to me seems to hinder your point. What am I missing?

Forgive the poor wording. The point is that high speed internet is a "need" that has emerged that people almost take for granted. People who are below the poverty line have high speed internet and smart phones. Again, this is a sign of a much greater standard of living than in prior decades.

Measuring inflation is really more art than science. Adjusted for inflation numbers are kind of meaningless when discussing these things. The important thing is how much quality of life does the average wage buy today in comparison to 1970. I think its pretty clear that it buys more overall. Certainly though its easy to find exceptions to this, such as energy.

What is this in response to? I kinda skimmed the article/charts, I read the thread a bit more carefully, but I'm not sure when anyone suggested the federal government was the solution. d0zer seems to have only asked what people think about this-- whether it's true, whether it's a problem, and what can be done about it. Please kick me in the balls if I completely missed a post or something.

I'm just pre-empting. Whenever we talk about things like this and ask "what can we do to remedy this?", then government can really be the only answer. The state is the only body that can swoop in and take resources by force to distribute them elsewhere it sees fit.

The huffington post is a progressive liberal media entity. An article like this is meant to inflame middle class people into supporting a liberal agenda, hating rich people or corporations, or embracing protectionism again in spite of all of the progress globalization has made.

We're not meant to come to the conclusion that maybe the solution is that there is no grand solution, no broad sweeping change we can make to the system to make it work.