Don't get me wrong. I understand the sensitivities of this flag issue.
At the same time, shouldn't we get over it and deal with the real problems impacting the middle class, black, white, brown and whatever other color there is?
According to CNN Money, many Americans are in trouble:
Making the rent is a common struggle for the poor. But it's becoming increasingly difficult among the middle class.One in five renter households making $45,000-$75,000 a year are considered "cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent, according to Harvard's State of the Nation's Housing 2015 report.
In the country's most expensive cities -- like San Francisco, New York and Boston -- almost half of renters making $45,000-$75,000 annually faced "disproportionately" high payments. Rent prices have been rising faster than paychecks -- especially among the middle class.
"Income growth for those folks has been especially weak," said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com.
To be fair, we can't blame all of this on President Obama. At the same time, we are in year 7 of his presidency and he owns some of the problem. Let's just say that Democrats would be blaming it on a GOP president if it were the other way around.
Rent rising faster than paychecks! And income growth is weak! This is like 1 + 1 equals 1.5 rather than 2!
And there is more bad news, especially for lower income families:
While the overall U.S. housing market has seen a rebound, home prices in many working-class communities are still behind the curve, leaving many owners stuck with properties worth less than their mortgage balances.So let's lower the flag, and the volume, and look at the middle class in the US. It is not pretty out there for millions of Americans trying to realize the American Dream.
P. S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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