2008 Woodie Awards
An Obamanation of economic literacy
Greg Collins, Collegian Columnist
Issue date: 9/9/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
Barack Obama and his supporters need to take Economic Literacy 101.
If they were truly concerned with helping people move up socioeconomic brackets in order to obtain better food, clothing and education, they would find that Obama's economic plans would hinder this growth.
For example, Sen. Obama's constant focus on strengthening America's middle class assumes that the middle class is a static entity, with similar incomes, family sizes, residential living expenses, and educational levels. Such assumptions demonstrate why the Democratic Party should look deeper into the specific characteristics of people who make up the middle class. The middle class, like any other socioeconomic bracket in America, changes more frequently than in any other major, industrialized nation.
There may be people who recently moved into the federally¬¬¬ ¬recognized "middle class" who are young professionals that recently graduated college, like many of our friends. There may be established professionals who took a lower-paying job at a different workplace in order to work closer to their spouses or to move into a better school district for their children. There may be women who had to take a leave of absence from their work to raise their children. There are people who have earned "middle class" income for years, but who also may have been accumulating the skills and experience necessary to be promoted to higher-paying jobs in the future.
Furthermore, many college students who have studied abroad have comments about the middle class in the country he or she has studied - if you ask them.
If a particular country's government is heavily involved in the economy, which can be reflected by high taxes, government-guaranteed jobs or strong tariffs, you will invariably hear that there is a permanent rich class and a permanent poor class, yet there is a weak middle class. The reason this is so is not because the government is not involved in the economy enough, but because it is too involved.
If they were truly concerned with helping people move up socioeconomic brackets in order to obtain better food, clothing and education, they would find that Obama's economic plans would hinder this growth.
For example, Sen. Obama's constant focus on strengthening America's middle class assumes that the middle class is a static entity, with similar incomes, family sizes, residential living expenses, and educational levels. Such assumptions demonstrate why the Democratic Party should look deeper into the specific characteristics of people who make up the middle class. The middle class, like any other socioeconomic bracket in America, changes more frequently than in any other major, industrialized nation.
There may be people who recently moved into the federally¬¬¬ ¬recognized "middle class" who are young professionals that recently graduated college, like many of our friends. There may be established professionals who took a lower-paying job at a different workplace in order to work closer to their spouses or to move into a better school district for their children. There may be women who had to take a leave of absence from their work to raise their children. There are people who have earned "middle class" income for years, but who also may have been accumulating the skills and experience necessary to be promoted to higher-paying jobs in the future.
Furthermore, many college students who have studied abroad have comments about the middle class in the country he or she has studied - if you ask them.
If a particular country's government is heavily involved in the economy, which can be reflected by high taxes, government-guaranteed jobs or strong tariffs, you will invariably hear that there is a permanent rich class and a permanent poor class, yet there is a weak middle class. The reason this is so is not because the government is not involved in the economy enough, but because it is too involved.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
David Hunt
posted 9/09/08 @ 10:41 AM EST
"Hope and Change"
I HOPE I have pocket CHANGE left once Obama's done raising taxes and ruining the economy.
Jack
posted 9/09/08 @ 11:35 AM EST
Obama's economic plan is clearly unsatisfactory to libertarians. I doubt McCain's is much better -- he uses much of the same rhetoric. Seems like libertarians should vote for Bob Barr. (Continued…)
Lyn
posted 9/09/08 @ 2:27 PM EST
This "story" is abysmal. Mr. Collins provides no explanation of any economic concepts (his literacy) and uses sweeping generalizations that 'all will be well if . (Continued…)
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