Is Our Middle Class Fading
We all worry as to whether or not the $700 billion
stimulus package is going to be our country's salvation. No one wants
to be a skeptic as to how that money will truly be spent.
Sadly
the mess we are in as a nation began long before its arrival with
declining wages and rising expenses continually chipping away at the
little bit middle income families were making. Mom and dads, single
households tried to adjust working a second job, longer hours,
depleting savings and creating more debt to simply get by.
The
strongest class that once was, is no longer because they find
themselves crushed by debt and rampant job loss is making the problem
even worse. Our financial system can not be made stable without
strengthening families. If they continue to choke on debt they cannot
pay and the blocks will continue to tumble.
Communities are
deteriorating at a rapid rate and the middle class is at a pivoting
point. The outcome will prove either one of two ways when all is said
is done: middle-America will become stronger and wiser, reducing their
debt and creating a stronger safety net not just on their own, but
through stronger government regulations OR, it will disappear
altogether.
No one wants to be part of a class that lives
paycheck-to-paycheck but, right now, we are. One of the hardest lessons
this crisis has taught is that taking on debt is dangerous for
individual families. For decades, families have been doing it knowing
it would catch up with them ... and sometimes because lower wages and
rising costs meant it was simply the only way they could live the most
basic life.
What can middle folk do to bring some sense of financial security into their lives now?
Do
not take on any more credit card debt ... it is only exasperating the
problem. Pay off whatever short term debt you may have, then tackle the
car loan, and then finally try and chip away at your mortgage.
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