FRED SIEGEL, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, author of The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class
In his new book, The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class, Fred Siegel, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and scholar in residence at St. Francis College, rewrites the history of the top-and-bottom coalition we know as American liberalism. Forget Jefferson, Jackson, and Roosevelt — Siegel argues that the foundational thinkers behind modern liberalism were a surprisingly different cast of intellectuals including Sinclair Lewis, Herbert Croly, and H.L. Mencken.
Siegel explains why today’s brand of liberalism has steadily eroded the middle class it claims to protect, replacing it instead with a coterie of special interest groups and crony capitalists.
* * * Fred Siegel is a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership, a City Journal contributing editor, and an expert on market-friendly public-policy solutions for urban governance. For many years he made his intellectual home at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. Before joining the faculty of Cooper Union, Siegel was a visiting professor of modern American history at the University of Paris. A former fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he is currently scholar-in-residence at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.
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150K JOBS A MONTH ...minimum to keep up with population growth. We are NO WHERE. Worse still the jobs are not in software engineering, electric engineering, R&D, aeronautical design, civil engineering, or durable goods manufacturing careers.
Jobs are service, distribution and health related. What % part time? Good news would be 4% unemployment, record work force population Percentage, and 10% growth in manufacturing for a year, simultaneous with inventory shrinkage (indicating people BUYING with their new disposable income).
When we met 31 years ago no one , NO ONE, could have convinced us that we would be in these kind of straits now 28 years into marriage.
Six years ago we filed taxes on around 100k.
We had heavy bills in mortgages and credit cards and car loans and student loans and on.
But we were always able to make the payments, even if it was just minimums, every month and on time.
Now, 6 years later, we filed taxes on just over 40k, and that's thanks largely to her very underpaid job. My own job is barely 1/4 of what she earns.
But those bills are still there and we are behind on nearly all of them, mortgages included. The credit cards are now unpaid altogether simply because we do not have the money and it is either feed the kids or pay Citi or Chase or HSBC. The notices and calls are getting louder and noisier and we can't even afford to file bankruptcy.
So when anyone tries to tout this as good news:
The job market has reached a significant milestone: Nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, the economy has finally regained all the jobs lost in the downturn.
It's all I can do to choke back the rage.
We have two of those jobs. And see where it has left us.
Over Half Of May Payroll Growth Is In Education, Leisure And Temp Help Jobs
If there was some hope that in April the trend of the US adding low-quality
(as in low-paying) jobs may finally be coming to an end, this came to a quick
end in May, when more than half of the 217K jobs added were in the lowest paying
sectors. Specifically: Education and health: +63KLeisure and Hospitality: +39KTemp Help Services: +14K These three lowest paying categories amount to 116K, or well over half of the total jobs gains. What's more, if there was some hope for a construction renaissance in April after 34K jobs were added in the sector, in May this too came to a grinding halt after only 6K construction jobs were added. The best paying jobs: financials and information, also deteriorated, with fins adding 3K in May, half of the April gain, while 5K Information jobs were outright lost in the past month, compared to a gain of 1K jobs.
Still, we are in "better" shape than many in this recovery.
Man found shot after deputies attempt to serve eviction notice
SARASOTA, Fla. -- One man is dead after deputies attempted to serve an eviction notice
According to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, deputies with the with the SCSO Civil Section were attempting to serve an eviction notice at a home on Fraser Pine Boulevard in The Enclave neighborhood off Palmer Boulevard Thursday morning. During the attempted service, a gunshot was heard from within the residence. Deputies were able to secure the area and gain entry into the house. One occupant was found deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. There were no other occupants in the house.
So if anyone really believes this recovery is real, that 217,000 jobs added is something to crow about in any way and thatb6.3% unemployment is any kind of improvement over the 9+ % of five years ago take a good look at this chart:
[Image]
and then get back to me.
Because from where I sit right now, the situation is past grim and bordering on hopeless.
3 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formI realize this won't fix what you have described in painful detail, but it confirms what you already know first hand.-HRW
e Revolt Against The Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined The Middle Class
FEATURING:
FRED SIEGEL, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute,
author of The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has
Undermined the Middle Class
In his new book, The Revolt Against the Masses: How Liberalism Has Undermined the Middle Class, Fred Siegel, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and scholar in residence at St. Francis College, rewrites the history of the top-and-bottom coalition we know as American liberalism. Forget Jefferson, Jackson, and Roosevelt — Siegel argues that the foundational thinkers behind modern liberalism were a surprisingly different cast of intellectuals including Sinclair Lewis, Herbert Croly, and H.L. Mencken.
Siegel explains why today’s brand of liberalism has steadily eroded the middle class it claims to protect, replacing it instead with a coterie of special interest groups and crony capitalists.
* * *
Fred Siegel is a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute’s Center for State and Local Leadership, a City Journal contributing editor, and an expert on market-friendly public-policy solutions for urban governance. For many years he made his intellectual home at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. Before joining the faculty of Cooper Union, Siegel was a visiting professor of modern American history at the University of Paris. A former fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he is currently scholar-in-residence at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn.
LATEST VIDEOS
MI Forum Featuring William J. Bratton
May 21, 2014
Robert Bryce talks about his new book Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper on Fox Business Network's "Varney&Co"
May 12, 2014
The Fourteenth Annual Alexander Hamilton Award Dinner
May 12, 2014
Friday, June 06, 2014 6:33:00 pm
150K JOBS A MONTH ...minimum to keep up with population growth. We are NO WHERE. Worse still the jobs are not in software engineering, electric engineering, R&D, aeronautical design, civil engineering, or durable goods manufacturing careers.
Jobs are service, distribution and health related. What % part time? Good news would be 4% unemployment, record work force population Percentage, and 10% growth in manufacturing for a year, simultaneous with inventory shrinkage (indicating people BUYING with their new disposable income).
Saturday, June 07, 2014 12:35:00 pm
Hi Midnight.
"CHANGE" - 37.2%: Percentage Not in Labor Force Remains at 36-Year High, at that time, Jimmy Carter was president.
http://www.mfs-theothernews.com/2014/06/change-372-percentage-not-in-labor.html
'Cooking' the books works only so long.
Saturday, June 07, 2014 2:53:00 pm