More on the Republi-CON War on the Middle Class

UPDATE: "Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.

And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.

Economists pointed to a telling statistic: It was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard."

Read The New York Times, Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'.

But it has not been a lost decade for one group, seniors. From The New York Times, Poor Are Still Getting Poorer, but Downturn’s Punch Varies, Census Data Show:

"When so much income goes to the top, the middle class doesn’t have enough purchasing power to keep the economy going without sinking ever more deeply into debt — which, as we’ve seen, ends badly. An economy so dependent on the spending of a few is also prone to great booms and busts. The rich splurge and speculate when their savings are doing well. But when the values of their assets tumble, they pull back. That can lead to wild gyrations. Sound familiar?" Read The New York Times, The Limping Middle Class, which includes this graph:



As the Republi-CONs continue their war on the middle class, the American dream withers.