Is Our Middle Class Fading

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:38:56 EST

We all worry as to whether or not the $700 billionstimulus package is going to be our country's salvation. No one wantsto be a skeptic as to how that money will truly be spent.

Sadlythe mess we are in as a nation began long before its arrival withdeclining wages and rising expenses continually chipping away at thelittle bit middle income families were making. Mom and dads, singlehouseholds tried to adjust working a second job, longer hours,depleting savings and creating more debt to simply get by.

Thestrongest class that once was, is no longer because they findthemselves crushed by debt and rampant job loss is making the problemeven worse. Our financial system can not be made stable withoutstrengthening families. If they continue to choke on debt they cannotpay and the blocks will continue to tumble.

Communities aredeteriorating at a rapid rate and the middle class is at a pivotingpoint. The outcome will prove either one of two ways when all is saidis done: middle-America will become stronger and wiser, reducing theirdebt and creating a stronger safety net not just on their own, butthrough stronger government regulations OR, it will disappearaltogether.

No one wants to be part of a class that livespaycheck-to-paycheck but, right now, we are. One of the hardest lessonsthis crisis has taught is that taking on debt is dangerous forindividual families. For decades, families have been doing it knowingit would catch up with them ... and sometimes because lower wages andrising costs meant it was simply the only way they could live the mostbasic life.

What can middle folk do to bring some sense of financial security into their lives now?

Donot take on any more credit card debt ... it is only exasperating theproblem. Pay off whatever short term debt you may have, then tackle thecar loan, and then finally try and chip away at your mortgage.

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Is Our Middle Class Fading