Government policy turned banks into high risk, high return operations under President Bill Clinton. Clinton advisor Gene Sperling pushed for dropping Glass-Steagall before making huge money off Wall Street. Sperling is back with the tonic for America's imploding middle class. MarketWatch reported:
Each of the 50 states has seen its share of middle-class families shrink from 2000 to 2013, thanks to stagnant incomes and rising housing costs, according to an analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts.Sperling recommends renting your middle class house, at least your primary one, as a way to make up for lost wages.
The eroding middle class poses a serious challenge to the nation's economic growth, given that households with mid-range incomes fuel spending on everything from cars to housing. Yet during the past 15 years, more of those middle-income families have slipped out of the sweet spot of the American economy, thanks to a confluence of negative trends such as declining or stagnant wages and a growing income gap.
Mr. Sperling finds the supplemental money earned by our hosts (Airbnb) essentially represents a 14 percent annual raise for middle class families on our platform.
It's is not a raise. It is rental income. How much of a raise did Mr. Sperling get to write his report? Does his report include:
1) How many middle class families lost their home in the last fifteen years?
2) How many middle class families have more than their primary home, as one needs a place to stay when they rent their home?
Americans across the country are feeling the stress of lower or stagnant income and rising costs of living, with Pew reporting in January that seven out of 10 Americans are strained by financial issues ranging from crushing debt loads, insufficient savings or income that's too low to cover their expenses.
Sperling and Airbnb sound like they want their service to be a policy solution to address America's shrinking middle class. Might that include a big chunk of federal money to conduct outreach?
While mid-income families are suffering, in many states the top 1 percent of income earners have captured all of the income gains since the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009.Get that shrinking middle class: You should prostitute your home to get by because your employer (owned or governed by the top 1%) isn't going to give you a raise.
