We need a Renewal of Responsibility

Things are never as simple as they seem. One of the most disturbing trends in America is the shrinking middle class. There can be no doubt that the middle call has taken the brunt of the great recession. These trends are too disturbing to ignore.

• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• The top 10% of Americans now earn around 50% of our national income.
• Many of those who are able to get jobs are finding that they are making less money than they used to. In fact, an increasingly large percentage of Americans are working at low wage retail and service jobs.

This trend has not gone unnoticed by our politicians. From Occupy Wall Street to President Obama, this issue has been elevated in the national debate. They have identified the source of the problem as the evil one-percent. They have adopted the tried and true tactic of identifying a scapegoat to pin the masses’ problems on. There is no doubt that the top one percent have fared better during the great recession. When have the rich not done better than everyone else in bad times? To divide our nation into the good and the evil will weaken our country and will make it hard to recover from when the economy turns around. You don’t make the weak strong by making the strong weak.

The root cause of the demise of the middle class cannot be laid entirely at the feet of the evil one percent. The American middle class exploded during the 1950’s through the 1980’s. There has long been a saying “the first generation starts a business. The second generation runs it. And the third generation ruins it."

A recent editorial by Froma Harrop got me thinking. Are we now the third generation? My grandparents (the first generation) survived the great Depression, won World War Two and built the economic power of the United States. My parents (the second generation) took over and established the United States as the sole super power in the world. Now to the third generation, my generation – today’s middle class:

We grew up in relative luxury, never experiencing a depression. We were born into a country that dominated the world economically and culturally. We had it good and it showed. Like the analogous third generation of a family business we were spoiled. Prosperity was a birthright rather than something to be earned. Harrop made these observations of today’s middle class: Gone are the “mortgage burning parties” of the earlier generations, instead they continued to buy bigger homes. Gone are the downtown retailers and the family businesses on the square as the middle class left them for cheaper detergent at the big box retailers on the outskirts of town. Gone is the respect of teachers and authority that provided an education that could lead to better opportunities. I would add, gone is the sense of personal responsibility when 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings and a staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.

The President should be careful how he elevates a certain group as the source of all ills for the middle class. Once a group is demonized it is hard to rehabilitate them. While the policies that disproportionately benefited the one percent may be wrong-headed it is dangerous to call the people in this group evil.

Buried in the one percent are the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who created tremendous companies whose products benefited everyone including the poor, the middle class and the one-percenters. To demonize this group is lump the good in with the bad.

In 1916 by the Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian clergyman penned 10 cannots that should serve as a guide to the President and today’s middle class.
 
1. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
2. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong
3. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
4. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
5. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
6. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
7. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
8. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
9. You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
10. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

Many businesses have survived and thrived past the third generation. It is not easy and certainly not guaranteed. It takes a renewed sense of ownership. In other words, it will take a renewal of responsibility by all Americans working together to turn our fortunes around. Now that is a theme that would get my attention in this upcoming election.