Back to our discussion of comparisons of the middle class in the 1930's and 2010...
It seems that most Americans consider themselves "Middle Class", and it would appear to me that it is our collective sense that this was always so - that America was always a "Middle Class" ("MC") kind of place.
What does it mean to be MC? Are you defined by who you go to school with? Or who you vacation with? Or by education, income, or net worth? The fact is that the concept is an abstract which rests in eye of the beholder and is continually marketed and manipulated in the Mainstream Media ("MSM").
(Here is a link to Wikipedia's article on Social Class in the U.S. I tend to reject the 3 class pitch from the Media given my experience coming from a working class family living in a gritty industrial town 1o miles north of New York City. Speaking from my experience Metro New York has quite a few more than 3 Social Classes. My family, and a large portion of our community, were working class Catholics - there were no vacations, new cars, gadgets, etc... and we never, ever dined out of the home (my poor mother had to cook for 9! 3 meals a day, every day for decades... and at nearly 87 she still parties like a rock star) but there were violin lessons and little league and I used to feel sorry for my wealthy friends that did not have a couple of brothers to share a room with.)
So who is MC in 2010? Can you be MC with little or negative net worth as long as you have a MC income? Are wage slaves MC? (Read that link. While I am an unrepentant capitalist and Libertarian I am NO CORPORATIST... more on this latter in the series.)
Speaking of wage and debt slaves... most Americans are unfamiliar with these concepts and how much angst these concepts produced during the early industrialization of America. Prior to Industrialization America was primarily employed in Agriculture and as Artisans. The great HOPE was that people would be able to move up from "wage slavery" to become self employed (think about that in today's context in which the vast majority would prefer death to the loss of their corporate or government job; were self-employment, unless one is a "professional", is a last resort). None other than Abraham Lincoln famously mused:
“The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.”
And then came the Stockholder Corporation and the infamous trusts. But I am getting ahead of myself... I want to leave the 1930's behind and get to the post Civil war period and the Long Depression (or the Panic of 1873) beginning in 1873.
to be continued...