Collapse of the US Middle Class — Ehrenrichs unload on the 1%

The old conservative dictum -- that it was unwise to criticize (or tax) the rich because you might yourself be one of them someday -- gave way to a new realization that the class you were most likely to migrate into wasn’t the rich, but the poor.

Read it at TruthOut
The Making of the American 99 Percent and the Collapse of the Middle Class
by Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich, TomDispatch/The Nation | Op-Ed

Pretty scathing indictment.

Where other once-wealthy nations have a safety net, America offers a greased chute, leading down to destitution with alarming speed.

I experienced this first-hand a couple of years ago when I helped out a guy who I was vaguely acquainted with in the Sixties. He had become a millionaire and had accumulated lots of toys. But then he used up most of his funds paying for treatment of his sister's debilitating illness which ran up huge bills before she succumbed. He then got caught in a downward spiral due to a business deal gone bad. It proceeded so fast he was unable to liquidate stuff fast enough to meet his cash flow requirement. So he found himself on the street, where he eventually got beat up. It was a really ugly scene that no one should ever have to go through. But there are also a lot of people that live in these circumstances from childhood. All they get to experience is the down. No excuse for it.