October 13, 2003
The vanishing middle-class
I've felt for a while that the number of legitimately middle-class families (earning between $40-80k) is declining fairly rapidly. Jobs are being eliminated through either outsourcing or labor-elimination. But in any case, Salon has an interview with Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law in which Warren suggests that the reason more and more people are filing for bankruptcy is that no one can really afford to live a middle-class lifestyle on middle-class incomes. It's something of a plug for her book, The Two Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke.
Pretty disturbing information, there, as a soon to be parent. Both my wife and I work now and will continue to do so after our daughter is born. The articles only convince me more that we should try our best to live below our means. I know that no person can have total financial security, but that's no reason to over-extend yourself.
Posted by: John at October 17, 2003 02:42 PM