Middle Class the Job Creators

The other day, I ran into a friend at the store who I had worked with about 10 years ago. He was one of those guys that was fun to be around, always had a smile, and made you laugh. We stood in that isle for almost 15 minutes talking and catching up, and I wish that I could say that he was doing well, and that life was what he had expected.

He a had wife and two daughters. Life was good. He had a good paying  job,owned a nice house, two cars, and a boat that was his greatest past time. I found out that he had lost his job in late 2007, and just about everything that he worked so hard for. Since his job loss they had lived on his wife's pay, which did not go that far, and eventually had to sell the house, both cars, and the boat.

My friend's family was once the typical middle-class American family, and today, they still represent the typical struggling American family.

I didn't recognize him when I first saw him. I guess attribute it too how I used to remember him. That funny guy who always laughed, smiled, and cheered you up when you needed it. There was no laughter in his voice, only sadness and loss of hope. It was very disturbing for me to see, and it still bothered me days later. That is why I chose to write about it.

"The American Dream," lost to what I call "Economic Terrorism." Yes, terrorism! The sick idea that only a few should hold the majority of the wealth within this country, while the middle class goes extinct and the poor get ever poorer. I thought that those days were over. When Kings would amass great wealth on the backs of the common people. Clearly, some among us think that we should go back to that kind ideology. The idea that 500 people in the US hold more wealth than the middle class and poor combined. It's an economic disaster!

Why is it an economic disaster? Simple. When you take the spending power away from the middle class and poor you break the cycle that capitalism depends on. Imagine that cycle as a circle. Money goes into the circle by people who have paying jobs and then inject that money back into the circle by spending it on food, clothing, and services like restaurants. Take away millions of jobs, and you take away billions and billions of dollars out of the economy. Those 500 people or top 1% of the US population that own the wealth do not spend it in the same way as those millions that have lost their jobs. Thus, the circle is broken, and we suffer consequences. Well, most of us do. Not the 1%.

That is how the middle class create jobs; by spending and borrowing money to keep this economy healthy. I had been saying this for some time now, but just the other day, someone called into The Ed Schultz Show and made a great explanation of it. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43927544/ns/msnbc_tv-the_ed_show/

I don't know what happened to my friend since then, only that he was disillusioned and lost. I made a choice not to write his name or details that would give him away, but I chose to tell his story, because it needed to be told, and I hope that he does not hold it against me for doing so. I wish him and his family my best, and hope that they get back on their feet very soon, so he can be that guy the I used to know.

It just goes to show you that this disastrous economy which has lasted since the Bush administration affects all of us, not just Democrats or Independents. My friend was and is a Republican, and he was not singled out of the affects that Washington bureaucrats and unscrupulous business people created. He and his family suffer the same as all of us.