Comments on: Middle class hanging by a thread http://polizeros.com/2007/11/29/middle-class-hanging-by-a-thread/ Musings on politics: anti-war, global warming, peak oil and otherwise Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:03:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: DJ http://polizeros.com/2007/11/29/middle-class-hanging-by-a-thread/#comment-145868 DJ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:24:52 +0000 http://polizeros.com/2007/11/29/middle-class-hanging-by-a-thread/#comment-145868 Nine months??? Wow. Very few people ever have those kinds of reserves. Here's some perspective: in 2001, <a href="http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/MiddleClassLivingOnTheEdge.aspx" rel="nofollow">only 31%</a> had enough to get them through THREE months of joblessness. So 2/3 of the population was already at risk. By 2004, the percentage that had three months of reserves had dropped to 29%. There's an interesting report on the trend <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/middle_class_turmoil.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a> that leads me to wonder if the very existence of the middle class might be tied to the exploitation of cheap fossil fuels. Being one of the middle class, I don't much like the possibility-- but being a pragmatist, I also like to know what to expect. Nine months??? Wow. Very few people ever have those kinds of reserves. Here’s some perspective: in 2001, only 31% had enough to get them through THREE months of joblessness. So 2/3 of the population was already at risk. By 2004, the percentage that had three months of reserves had dropped to 29%.

There’s an interesting report on the trend here that leads me to wonder if the very existence of the middle class might be tied to the exploitation of cheap fossil fuels. Being one of the middle class, I don’t much like the possibility– but being a pragmatist, I also like to know what to expect.

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