The Shrinking Middle Class And The Expanding Working Poor In America

If you go to working class, and working poor areas of America, the food sources that are relegated to them are generally limited to unhealthy ones. ~ Anthony Bourdain

The working poor are the people suffering out subprime mortgages and fatal loans and more and more of our money - you know, capitalism is operated by extracting money, not so much directly being paid. ~ David Graeber

The working poor in the South are often blamed for their reliance on "traditional" Southern food, while in reality, most are eating the same heavily processed, cheap, convenience foods that the majority of working people eat across the United States. ~ Marcie Cohen Ferris

I mostly write about the working poor. Somehow, they're not being written about much anymore. I'm very interested in people who are in a situation that needs a little puzzling out. The thing that gets me started on a story is a person in a tough situation. ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell

Since 2015, you have seen wealth concentration in the US continue to increase significantly. The US by 2015 had most of its high net worth individuals and billionaires with trillions of wealth, a growth that you have seen continue to increase over the years. The ranks of billionaires and millionaires grew, and their combined wealth ballooned, further dividing the earnings of the wealthiest Americans from the rest of society.

The concentration at the top is part of a longer trend since the 2008 economic crisis, where growth and recovery thereafter have overwhelmingly benefited those near the higher levels of income and wealth.

In addition to the astronomical wealth of the nation's upper class, the economic landscape for ordinary Americans has provided you with a sharp contrast. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, compensation for chief executive officers has risen exponentially, outstripping the negligible hikes in minimum wages and the stagnant or declining growing salaries of the working and middle classes.

This disparity in earnings potential has created the diminishing middle class, as financial stability becomes more difficult for families to attain.

As a result, the working class and working poor have increased, which is reflective of an economy in which growth and productivity is being more and more concentrated at the top with more and more of the population struggling economically to remain above water.