Squeezed In America: The U.S. Middle Class Underperforms Its Peers

Editors note:  A very insightful editorial by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette folks.

A new analysis that shows the U.S. middle class is no longer the world’s richest should alarm more than just those in the nation’s dwindling middle.

Decades-long trends that have shifted the nation’s wealth to the top and widened the gap between rich and poor have undermined democracy. They also have weakened the consumer-driven economy.

No one understood the importance of a healthy middle class better than Henry Ford. In 1914, he more than doubled the wages he paid his workers. The $5, eight-hour workday was a bold strategy to lower employee turnover and enable them to buy Ford cars.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2014/05/03/Squeezed-in-America/stories/201404290020#ixzz30ffKoORh

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