Financial talk

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/08/29/middle-class-squeeze/ http://www.wanniski.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=4460 http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/03/cant-we-bury-middle-class-income-myths.html http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/03/0inequality-mythpolitical-rhetoric-v.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120511125873823431.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/wm1478.cfm http://www.house.gov/jec/growth/prosper/prosper.htm http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010855 http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp673.htm http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=281056970113528# http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters93c3 http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2007/11/wsj-growing-inc.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090401623.html http://www.wanniski.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=4460 http://www.miseryindex.us/indexbyyear.asp http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=278895915214665# http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=121306A http://www.fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/1005Henderson.pdf http://fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/0606Henderson.pdf http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/09/middle-class-is-disappearing.html http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MWUwOTYzNjUwNmIzM2I3ZWEyMTE4MzJkZTJmODZmZmM= http://www.frbatlanta.org/filelegacydocs/wp0518.pdf http://www.donaldsensing.com/2003/09/economic-iconoclasm.html http://www.nytimes.com/specials/downsize/21cox.html http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1988/05/art1full.pdf http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/el97-07.html#winners http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/1999p/ar95.html http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/25/pf/record_millionaires/index.htm?cnn=yes http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/millionaire_survey/index.htm?cnn=yes http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/28/news/economy/millionaires/?cnn=yes http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27brooks.html?ex=1259298000&en=3a3e75cbd69858d4&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/rector200310010857.asp http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/SR9.cfm http://author.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/wm1478.cfm http://www.willisms.com/archives/2006/12/trivia_tidbit_o_386.html http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/bg1773.cfm http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/BG791.cfm Well there are some gaps but they certainly don't mean what the left says they mean. The rich are richer but there are also many more of them. The middle class is not growing in number as fast as the population but the upper class is growing faster - over 90% of the migration from the middle class is UPWARD. The "working class" between poor and middle is growing but that's because people are moving up out of poverty. The total number of people living in poverty is increasing but only at about 1/3 the rate at which poor people emmigrate here. So, more of the rich stay rich, more of the middle class become rich, more of the poor escape poverty, and they're replaced at the bottom by more and more poor immigrants. Isn't that how the economy SHOULD work? Thelonius I know it's a lot of links but the point is to show that no matter how you slice it or from what angle you analyze it, the notion of "the poor getting poorer" in absolute terms is just plain false.