“For 40 years, the American middle class has been disappearing. Millions of people are working longer hours for lower wages despite a huge increase in technology and productivity. And what we have seen during that period is a massive transfer of trillions of dollars from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of America” PeopleYearsHas BeensAmericaHoursClassMillionsTechnologyMiddleHugePeriodsPercentIncreaseDollarsDisappearProductivityDespiteMiddle ClassMassiveWagesTransfers Author:Lindsey Graham
“Wes Clark put forward a middle-class tax plan, but it only helps a quarter of middle-class families, none without minor children at home. And mine helps 98 percent of the middle class.” ChildrenHelpingHomeClassPlansMiddleMinesTaxesPercentMiddle ClassQuartersMinorsMiddle Class Family Author:Joe Lieberman
“It would be hard to find a single example in history in which a group that cast more than 50 percent of the vote got away with calling itself the victim... Women are the only 'oppressed' group to share the same parents as the 'oppressor'; to be born into the middle class and upper class as frequently as the 'oppressor'; to own more of the culture's luxury items than the 'oppressor'.” HardWould BeCultureParentBornClassGroupsShareMiddleExampleCallingPercentVoteVictimCastsLuxuryMiddle ClassOppressedItemsOppressorsUpper ClassLuxury Items Book:The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex Source: The Myth of Male Power: Why Men Are the Disposable Sex
“We owe to every businessperson and worker in America the best environment in the world to create a job. We owe that to American business. 35 percent corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world. We need to lower it so they don’t leave.” WorldNeedsHelpingJobsAmericaGoalClassEnvironmentFiveMiddleTaxesHighestPercentWorkersRateCorporateThirtyMiddle ClassAmerican Business Author:Lindsey Graham
“When well-qualified, upper middle-class blacks or Latinos or Asians move to predominantly white neighborhoods, there's what's called the tipping point. That tipping point is generally 15 percent; at 15 percent you begin to see white flight.” WellsMovingWhiteClassMiddlePercentFlightMiddle ClassNeighborhoodQualifiedLatinoTippingTipping PointUpper Middle Class Author:Richard Benjamin
“The reality is that we have one of lowest voter turnouts of any major country on earth because so many people have given up on the political process. The reality is that there has been trillions of dollars of wealth going from the middle class in the last 30 years to the top 1/10th of 1 percent.” PeopleYearsHas BeensCountryRealityEarthLastsPoliticalGivenProcessWealthClassMiddleMajorsPercentDollarsMiddle ClassVotersLowestGiven UpVoter Turnout Author:Bernie Sanders
“Gallup defines a good job as 30+ hours per week for an organization that provides a regular paycheck. Right now, the U.S. is delivering at a staggeringly low rate of 44%, which is the number of full-time jobs as a percent of the adult population, 18 years and older. We need that to be 50% and a bare minimum of 10 million new, good jobs to replenish America's middle class.” NeedsYearsJobsAmericaHoursNumbersClassMillionsWeekMiddleRight NowLowsPercentAdultsOrganizationRatePopulationMiddle ClassMinimumGood JobNotableDeliveringPaychecksFull Time Jobs Author:Jim Clifton
“I hear all the time that 'unemployment is greatly reduced, but the people aren't feeling it.' When the media, talking heads, the White House and Wall Street start reporting the truth - the percent of Americans in good jobs; jobs that are full time and real - then we will quit wondering why Americans aren't 'feeling' something that doesn't remotely reflect the reality in their lives. And we will also quit wondering what hollowed out the middle class.” PeopleRealFeelingsRealityJobsHouseWhiteTalkingWonderClassStreetsMiddleMediaWallPercentQuittingMiddle ClassWhite HouseUnemploymentGood JobNotableTalking Heads Author:Jim Clifton
“This is a very important issue that the corporate media chooses not to talk about a whole lot, that we have an economic system which is rigged, which means that at the same time as the middle class of this country is disappearing, almost all of the new income and wealth in America is going to the top 1 percent. You have the top one-tenth of 1 percent owning almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent - 58 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.” MeanImportantCountryWholeAmericaWealthClassIssuesEconomicMiddleMediaPercentBottomDisappearIncomeCorporateMiddle ClassEconomic SystemsImportant IssuesRigged Author:Bernie Sanders
“For students today, only 10 percent of children from working-class families graduate from college by the age of 24 as compared to 58 percent of upper-middle-class and wealthy families.” InspirationalChildrenAgeTodayFunnyClassMiddleStudentsCollegePercentMiddle ClassWealthyGraduatesGraduationWorking ClassUpper Middle ClassStudents Today Author:Patrick J. Kennedy
“For the workers and their families, being able to bring home a living wage helps their families and, by extension, helps our economy. Seventy percent of our economy is consumer-based. We know that when lower- and middle-class families have money and disposable income, they spend it. That puts money back into the economy. It's a win-win for everybody: Not just for the individual, not just production at a specific company (like Nissan), but for the greater good.” KnowsHelpingHomeAbleWinningIndividualCompanyClassEconomyGreaterMiddlePercentWorkersProductionsIncomeConsumersMiddle ClassExtensionsSeventiesDisposableGreater GoodWin WinLiving WageMiddle Class Family Author:Nina Turner
“In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in drug arrests was for marijuana possession, a drug less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and at least, if not more, prevalent in middle class white neighborhoods and college campuses as it is in the 'hood.” IfsWarWhiteClassMiddleCollegePeriodsDrugPercentIncreasePossessionAlcoholMiddle ClassNeighborhoodMarijuanaTobaccoHoodCampusWar On DrugsCollege CampusEscalation Author:Michelle Alexander
“I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.” ShouldLastsClassEconomyCuttingMiddleTaxesPercentRaisesMiddle ClassTax Cuts Author:Barack Obama