Week Thirty Nine: The Middle Class

It took me several times to write this. In fact, I've re-written it three or four times, trying to find the right subject matter on the topic. There are, after all, tons and tons and tons of factors in this. But the biggest problem is the sheer gap.

In America, the gap between the social classes is growing, while the middle class is dwindling. this is, by the way Bad News. The worst sort of news in fact. You know how several weeks ago I spoke of the collapse of the American Empire being a pretty high probability? Well, this is one of the reason why.

But there have been really high gaps before, you say!

Well yes. In lesser technological times with more resources in the world, there were Really Big Gaps, where you were either rich or poor, and there was little you could do to become rich, but an awful lot you could do to become poor. These were never happy times though. They were times of great dissent, great upset. People Were Not Happy.

Not such a big deal? I'm sorry, I'm not talking about not happy in the sad sort of way. I'm talking about not happy in the I own two shirts, two pairs of pants, and get new clothes every four years, because trying to put food in my belly is more important than trying to look nice, or wear the latest fashions.

Big Gap = Big Problem.

It means a lot of social unrest, especially from those who were one middle class, and now struggle to find a job. It means a lost of civil unrest, if you haven't noticed in the news lately. The recession hit the world, and the Arab Spring hit it too, followed by Occupy Wall St, which is still going strong, and is worldwide and growing. Occupy Wall Street won't be the last of the protests either, not until the gap shrinks.

A middle class is, when it comes down to it, the most important of the classes. Yes, the Upper class has more money to throw about, but they also tend to be less likely to spend it. If they do spend it, it's only high quality goods. The importance of the Upper Class is their investments.

But the middle class? The middle class is the class that makes jobs. They're the ones who are big spenders, because they can afford to live within their means and still buy new things frequently. In other words, because the middle class spends more often than the upper class, the middle class is of a higher immediate economic value. Long term depends on the investments of the upper class, but the job outlook depends on the middle class.

The poor and the lower class however, create every few jobs because they don't have the money to spend. They are important however, because they often do jobs that no one else really wants to do. In other words, each class has it's point, and the larger the gap, the smaller the job-creating class is. The smaller the hope creating, art creating, technological innovation creating class is.

The middle class, it's kind of a big deal. But with a great big gap, there is no middle class. Which means you aren't very stable. Think of it like the human body. Say the limbs are the lower class, the core is the middle class, and the head is the upper class. Good analogy I think. Without the core, the body isn't a body at all. With a weak core, the body is pretty flimsy, can't do much, and lolls about like a beanie baby. But with a strong core, everything else is stronger as well, and all of a sudden, a million more paths are open in life, and in the world.

They say the bigger you are, the harder you fall.

Well, the bigger than gap is, the harder it hits us all.

One Final Byte: My catapult broke. I need more clear tape!