1	The Declining Middle Class and Other Economic Myths Stephen J. Rose, February, 2008
2	Presenting Data Is As Much Art As Science World is Complex: hard to develop appropriate metrics and collect necessary information. Different theoretical perspectives make people highlight certain data and not others and interpret trends in different ways . Different statistical measures: absolute, relative, change, change in pace of change; in terms of making comparisons over time—comparative statics versus longitudinal. Many researchers use data to support a political stance.
3	The Gloom and Doom Tale Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi: “Never before have middle class families worked so hard just to break even.” Kusnet, Michel, and Teixeira: “With most people, the intensity, the insecurity, and the arduousness of their economic struggles are woven into the fabric of their lives—and are central to their identity.” Kuttner: “At least two-thirds [of Americans] are economically stressed… [Over the past three decades] all of the [productivity] gains went to top 10 percent (most to the top 1 percent)”
4	Thomas Frank, What’s The Matter With Kansas
5	Specific Claims I
6	Specific Claims II
7	Liberal Economic Narrative Problem: Not just the poor, but the Middle Class is squeezed too. Inequality and insecurity are up: People in the bottom 50-80 percent of the income ladder are falling behind or working harder to stay in place. Cause: Corporations and super rich (CEOs) take all or lion’s share of the pie Stance: moral indignation—inequality not right Solution: people’s movement to force change through public bodies.
8	Despite Being Party of People, Democrats have not done well with White Middle Class
9	Conservative Economic Narrative Few Elements--based on laissez-faire and hence no “natural problems” Problem: government intervention Moral Stance: individual freedom Solution: smaller government, less taxation
10	Background: Long Run EconomicTrends
11	Economics Boiled Down to Two Questions Size of the pie Technology Infrastructure--physical, finanical, legal, and cultural Full utilization of Resources Distribution of the Pie Between profits and compensation Between workers and nonworking elderly and children Between different types of workers
12	Steady Overall Economic Growth
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14	Broad Expansion of Educational Attainment
15	Better Jobs
16	How the Economy has Changed: Rise of the Office Sector
17	Changing Living Standards
18	Did All of the Income Gains Since 1979 to the Richest Decile? Since GDP per capita is up 66%, this growth would represent 40% of all income. If the top 10 percent started with 30 percent of all income, then their share with all of the growth going to them would be 60 percent of all income. The top quintile would have over 75 percent of all income.
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20	Permanent Income and Life Cycle Effect
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24	Have Rising Imports Led to Job Losses?
25	Change in Male Employment
26	Change in Female Employment
27	Are Americans Drowning in Debt? 54% of Households have no credit card debt; median debt of those with debt--$2,100 24% of Households have no debt of any kind. Savings rate of those under 65 is flat over last 20 years (Center for Retirement Research). More workers benefit from move from DB to DC (Poterba et al). Median Wealth of 55-64 year olds was $248,000 in 2004, up 35% from 1989.
28	Conclusion