Pro/Con: Is the American middle class in permanent decline?
“Pro” thesis: The American middle class is in permanent
decline.
Argument (by Alan Nasser, Professor Emeritus of Political
Economy, The Evergreen State College. Written for CQ Researcher, April 2016):
- The middle class has never been in good shape, since it has always had a high household debt-to-disposable income ratio, and this ratio has been steadily worsening since the 1950's.
- There is no reason to think that the economy will turn around to significantly reduce the household debt-to-disposable income ratio.
- So, the middle class is in permanent decline.
Nasser quotes a number of statistics about the ratio of
household debt to disposable income; in a formal paper or a book, the source (or sources) of these figures
would need to be cited. He should also provide citations for where
the three noted economists forecast chronic stagnation in the economy.