What Happened To The American Middle Class? | Financial Crash Documentary | Trade Off

America has always been known as the land of plenty, a place of wealth and opportunity, but for Americans things have hit rock bottom and things seem almost as bad as they were in the depression era of the 1930s.

middle

class Americans would be considered well-off by By European standards, their annual income ranges from forty thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and yet they struggle more than anyone else in the United States to cover their daily expenses. Family income has taken a big hit in the last three years, so this has been, you know, it was a really tough 11 years for the typical family in this country and it came after 30 years of people just clinging to class.

middle

class that is being eliminated in the United States and is becoming

what

the working class was in the 19th or 18th centuries.

Basically, people who while they're working can stay alive, but when they stop working, they stop working, they don't have wealth, they don't have assets, we don't really have an emergency fund, we don't have a lot of savings, always. prioritize, okay, these are the bills that we have to pay and these are the bills that if we get the money we can pay, we had to borrow money for our daughter's education or fight for our son's education, we have struggled, I want In other words, we have gone from having money in the bank, having savings, to living paycheck to paycheck and basically trying to make ends meet and sometimes they are not enough with more than 1 million inhabitants.

Boston is one of the largest cities in the United States, but the middle class is being forced Property prices here are too high for the average American family. This is the Cox family home. Husband Jonas works for a software company. His wife publishes after the birth of his first child. Jonas's wife stayed at home for a year without a second income the family almost used up all their savings a few months later Jonas lost his job although he was only unemployed for four months the family's savings were gone and now they are deeply in debt we tend to not to talk about our

financial

life we ​​tend to keep it private, both my wife and I think we have been like that even in my family like the cox family, three quarters of all Americans are so out of pocket that their monthly income doesn't They are enough to keep you out of debt let alone feed your family and put a roof over their heads, my wife and I earn about twenty 120 dollars a year.

I don't think I usually spend money. I'm getting back into the daily routine. I prepare lunch every day. um, I never buy lunches, we rarely go to restaurants to eat out, I go a lot of time without buying clothes, maybe more than I'd like. The middle class is defined as people who have a set of aspirations, those aspirations are the ones I want to have. I want to have my own house I want to live in a safe neighborhood with good schools I want to be able to save a little money to take a modest vacation each year I want to have health insurance I want to be able to save a little for retirement I want to be able to send my children to college Those kinds of things make up

what

I would call the middle class baskets.

Traveling north from Boston is a somber journey through the old industrial cities of New England in their heyday. It's long gone. Textile manufacturing was outsourced many years ago to third world countries that offered cheaper labor. Vermont, near the Canadian border, has always been a popular tourist spot. Its numerous ski resorts and stable climatic conditions have made it famous for its winter sports. like today, a clear day with lots of snow, the slopes are almost empty inside the towns of Vermont, the old American spirit can still be found, the neighbors trust each other, the front doors always remain open, people are found here who still cherish the original pioneer ideals, working hard and still.

Wayward freethinkers, people who want to live in harmony with nature and are aware of their surroundings. Six years ago George Shank and his wife went into the woods and cut down some trees and built this log cabin and made it their home even for frugal people. People like Shanks. Times have been better. There are no promises about the future. You can plan and hope for the kind of

financial

future you dream of, but that may not happen. Shanks has been producing American flatbread for over 30 years, a classic artisan bread. This is our homemade organic tomato sauce.

The couple owns a restaurant, they have franchises in other American cities and they also own a variety of frozen mozzarella cheese. They also delivered their flatbread to schools and prisons. They were doing well and were hoping to retire soon but the credit crunch came and ruined their retirement plans with it I feel a little squeezed I feel like I'm getting to the age I should be when I grew up my parents retired when they were um let's not talk about that old but they were retiring at 60 and from where I sit I don't see the end of my job the couple had to use their pension funds to be able to send their children to university it is a difficult decision to make between Children's education and retirement funds, however, is one that many average American families simply have to take these days, but George doesn't want to complain and the last thing he wants is pity, he maintains that even when times are tough, We still need to focus on the positive effects.

One of the fascinating things about the recession we seemed to be emerging from is that it created a pause for many people to reevaluate whether they were doing the things that really matter in their lives. Do they really need or want the things they thought were so important? You know, one of the things that I think we, as a conclusion here, is that you can feel richer if you want less. When Reagan took office, we were the world's largest creditor. we lent money to other people we were the largest manufacturer exporter and exporter of finished goods in the world that the world had ever seen we made things we were the largest importer of raw materials so we brought in iron ore we turned it into televisions and computers and we exported it for credit and the very definition of a first world country 30 years later, all of those numbers are absolutely backwards.

We are now the world's largest debtor in the history of the planet. We are the largest importer of manufactured products in the world. exporter of goods and raw materials, many things have changed since the 1960s when the wife stayed at home to raise the children while her husband went out to work, today both husband and wife have to generate income and even that sometimes it's not enough to make ends meet the idea that people spend a lot more now than before is a myth the cost of living education healthcare has increased exorbitantly but salaries have not increased at the same rate so what has changed in the last two generations for this to be so?

On this farm in Vermont three generations live under one roof for the people of Vermont Washington and their politics are far apart. The political opinions of the Lincoln family are very diverse. The experience of life on their farm has been very different for each generation. My brother doesn't eat vegetables and I do, I think it was a lot easier for my parents to make a um I don't call it profit I would call it paying the bills and we were in a situation where the farm and my mother worked. but they, my parents, sent all five of us children to university.

I don't know if a farmer with five kids today could send him to college when I think about Grandma and Grant, I mean, how many times did Grant leave the farm? I never left, I mean, I was at his job in seventh or eighth grade and Grant left the farm for four days and we went to Washington DC. Farmers across Vermont are experiencing financial pressures and right now there are people who are under extreme stress. I know you can't believe hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and hundreds of thousands of dollars behind, but the Lincoln family doesn't want any help from the government.

If I'm a good business person, it's my responsibility to create an environment where I don't need to be subsidized, I think real Vermonters, real old Vermonters and we have two that come here, don't need a network. of security, they can adapt to the environment that they are living in and they create an environment that is economically sustainable for them, is this, uh, it has always been shown how to do it and taking this farm would not survive if we both worked on it, I think I have to work outside the home and I think it's because of the health insurance for all of us when we got engaged, that this ring was a good investment because it paid for the health insurance that I saved, I paid for the ring in less than a year, although the farmers are struggling, This family business is surviving.

Now the Lincolns have found other sources of income. They are currently doing forestry operations for other companies on the other side of the United States from Vermont. Right next to the border with Mexico is the state of Arizona, an average American city. There are many fast food chains throughout. all the suburbs are suffering from the lack of customers the real estate market in Arizona is on the verge of collapse nowhere else in the United States have so many people lost their homes due to the recovery, mainly because homeowners could not pay their credit card debts katinka credit let me show you this house that is owned by a foreclosed bank first, the source would normally flow.

Real estate agent Jennifer O'Brien shows us a superficially foreclosed property, the house appears to be in good condition, but the previous owner dismantled everything he believed he could transform. in cash what real estate agents have been doing for hundreds of years which is selling houses you know we are in the business of selling houses banks let houses like this deteriorate and they don't sell them on time and they continue to deteriorate They like people to live in them they like their toilets to flush the water so that it runs you know that the landscape must be maintained none of this is being done they are managing these things that are assets the banks are but they don't see them as numbers not as houses not like the

american

dream jerry abreu walks daily to the mailbox he knows that there will only be new bills that he cannot pay the businessman has lost eight hundred thousand dollars in the stock market and as a consequence his house, the investment of a lifetime, has been gone, they want to offer us, it's frustrating.

I guess you know that part of you feels like you've failed, you know you feel like you've dropped the ball, so to speak, you know, especially in I'm 40, you know, I'm 40 now and I was hoping to have a pretty good nest egg. set aside for my kids to go to college and for us to, you know, look toward retirement and now it's like starting over, in contrast, the banks got billions, it's not fair for the banks to recoup these secured loans because they were backed by foreign investors because they were backed by rich people and these, you know, real estate investment trusts that they should be the ones that are fine and safe, but I'm losing my house, I'm losing my business, I'm losing my job , you know, and here they're worried about whether or not these big public companies are going to fail. many white middle-class jerrys believe that washington no longer represents the interests of the people and are increasingly inclined to sympathize with the conservative tea party no matter how much they dislike their extremism and racist views tea party ideas appeal to a growing portion of the disaffected middle class who long to recapture the good times they know intuitively that something is wrong and I think the Tea Party movement they know that they are poorer than they should be they know that they are at risk they know that they and all his friends are six months away from disaster if they lose their jobs, I mean genuine disaster, the solar windows, yes, the solar windows that will keep the room warm, planted together, this was the house that Jerry and his wife Kimia they used to have, it's not easy for them.

Going back was the place where they wanted to raise their kids and grow old together once it was a family home now it's all owned by the bank I try not to go there, you know, but I feel a little, you know, you know, sad See it again, be strong and advance. I didn't blink an eye at having a 500,000 loan on a house because that was the typical cost of a house back then and now when I think about it, it's like half a million dollars. It's a lot of money that I promise and I'm committed to paying over 30 years and you know, when my parents bought their first house, I think it was 18,000, you know, and I, and how I went from 18,000 in 1970 to 500,000, you know. , 30 years later, it simply doesn't make sense that the collapse of the housing market is just a symptom of the economic crisis affecting the American middle class.

Companies seek short-term profits. A quick fix, if you like that. One of the easiest ways is. Through health insurance nowThey let the employees themselves pay for it. Another problem is increased competition with China and other low-wage countries, as well as the lack of organizations such as unions. Only 7.5 of all Americans are members of unions, which puts the individual in a very vulnerable position the weakening of unions had already begun during Reagan's presidency Ronald Reagan took on the toughest union at the time the air traffic controllers broke the strike and set the tone for the future today the decline of unions continues in wisconsin, republican governor scott walker proposed to dissolve the teachers union who supported obama's democratic policy in the united states you have no right to take sick days at your job you are not entitled to vacation it is not guaranteed, you know a solid pension from your employer, your employer does not guarantee you health care, all those things people in other countries take for granted in the United States, this It is something that we have less and less or not more and more. of the gap between rich and poor is increasing rapidly right now the top one percent of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent and the top 1 percent of Americans earn more income than the bottom 50 percent of people You think yes, okay, the increase in inequality is objectionable, but is it bad?

Is it bad for the country? And one thing that I think is important to think about at the same time is what's happening with mobility. People don't go up or down the income scale. People are really stuck where they were. born means that it goes against core American values, that means that this idea that people have equal opportunity, people have the opportunity to make their mark, make their millions, um, it's just not there, many Americans have lost hope of a change every month. 120,000 people declare bankruptcy. One of those couples was Amy and Jeff Knisley. Jeff works in middle management at a bank and Amy is a babysitter.

They do not want to say exactly how much they earn, but it is only enough to cover their expenses. The children camped once a year, which is their only luxury. Bankruptcy was really our only option that we felt we could take based on the research we had done and the people we had talked to, so we didn't want to do that and that was scary too. but it seemed that it was the best, the best solution for us, to get out from under that big rock that seemed to be holding us back. I think our society needs to focus more on America, on us and um, as far as you know, I think a lot of lower class people are getting a lot more help from the government since their insolvency.

Amy spends hours every day looking for bargains in every newspaper available. Shopping has become a complicated and time-consuming task of which she is a part. Jeff and Amy's daily struggle to keep their heads above water, what would make me sleep better is that they don't take away from one thing to pay for another, you know, that you can sit down and pay your bills, pay them and then move on. I have money to spend the rest of the week on groceries and gas and you know things like that you would need. I would be very happy to have a typical week where I could sit down and write the invoices and then say "oh, you." know how much we have money to buy groceries this week there will be more women declared bankrupt in the US this year than women earning a college degree there will be more children in the US this year with bankrupt parents than with divorced parents the most frequent new year's resolution the last five years have been paying off debt without a doubt, all of this has a devastating impact on American society.

What

happened

was this gradual change of the myth went from I'll work and I'll build and you know that would be part of it. of this too i will hit the jackpot despite all this, the belief in the

american

dream still survives within some rob and sarah hamelman made it their ambition to grow wine in the arizona desert the bank refused to give them a loan to This new company, but They managed to raise enough money to buy this vineyard with the help of family and friends. We have what it takes here for this to become a great vineyard.

We have the great elevation. Warm days. Cool nights in the summer. Excellent free-draining sandy loam soil. It's a great place for a vineyard after finishing college. Jeff and Amy worked in vineyards around the world. This year will be the first season in his own vineyard. I think it has been difficult for people our age, but hey, you get it. Something to work harder for, but hard work is really enough to fulfill your American dream these days, what are Sarah and Jeff waiting for? I wish America had more responsible financial institutions and people in power to think about the future.

What their actions are doing seems like all the things that led to the collapse were very short-sighted. People were not looking at the consequences of their actions. Yes, and just more financial opportunities for the banks to relax a little for the people. who wants who has dreams who wants to make it happen anthony lascaris is more skeptical 20 years ago he emigrated from greece he is the manager of a bicycle shop with nine employees in his opinion the decline of the middle class is unstoppable i mean it is really it is tempting to insist on protectionism and isolationism and you won't import goods from abroad, but that doesn't really work, everyone knows that, but man, is it tempting when we hear about the inequities and inequalities of the workforce.

It's very tempting to say why do it. We allow our companies to import from countries that do not maintain the same labor controls and protections as we do, at great cost, even though globalized

trade

is highly criticized by many Americans, the United States continues to outsource much of its manufacturing, no longer we have the right. Expect to live a better life than our parents and, by extension, everyone in the rest of the world, it is simply not possible for the concentration of wealth to remain in a small society. I see it as an inevitable consequence of globalization that our standard of living must necessarily fall slightly for the rest of the world to improve.

How will the struggle of the American middle class affect the nation's status in the world? There are signs everywhere that this is a country in crisis that we focus on and tend to focus on. a lot on the most extreme views on the left and right and they seem to be the center of attention all the time and I think it's time for you to get to know the Americans, get to know the middle class, the Americans who most represent this country have a voice heard in this country. Hey, you know, it's time for us to really start focusing on getting back to what made this country a great building, manufacturing, creating, inventing, that's what this country was built on and we need to get back to that, I think.