Saturday, April 30, 2011

The Real-Life Jeffersons.

Here's an interesting study, folks. According to the IRS, 58% of the people categorized as lower class (economically) in 1996 had, by 2005, achieved a higher economic strata - 5% actually moving all the way to upper class....How surprising is that, huh? I mean, if you listen strictly to progressives and/or had had your your teeth purely on stuff from C.Wright Mills, etc., you'd have probably thought that the United States was even more stratified than India..........................................................................................Of course, this isn't to say that the argument is any way, shape, or form, settled. The progressives can always say that the only way that these people were able to progress at all was because of the safety-net that had no doubt helped them when they were down - this, as opposed to conservatives, who would probably attribute the results more to welfare reform. But you know what, folks, I would much rather have the two sides arguing over who gets credit for something than blaming each other for the bad stuff....................................................................................................P.S. Granted, being that this study ends in 2005 (three years prior to the economic collapse), it is at least somewhat limited. Still, though, I did find it encouraging.

6 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

The other telling statistic missing from this analysis what percentage had moved from the "higher economic strata" to the "lower class", because the number of people in poverty did not significantly decline between 1996 and 2005 and has increased since then.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I guess that that's the thing, Jerry. Some people succeed and others fail. And with a growing population, the number in poverty is also bound to grow.

John Myste said...

How many people dropped to a lower class?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

That's a good question, John. I'll no doubt have to dig a little deeper for that one.

Dervish Sanders said...

What's interesting, I think, is that this occurred largly during the Clinton Presidency. After bush II took over (and eventually crashed the economy) things started going downhill...

2008 US Census shows sharp increase in poverty [Link]

Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High [2010 article].

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

No defense of the Bush administration here.