Middle Class Have Diverse Concerns
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Economy, TaxesI’ve noticed at the Democratic National Convention, a lot of the speakers have referenced the middle class, primarily how us hardworking, home-owning folks are struggling and how the Democrats will improve our lot while the Republicans will throw us to the lions.
The overblown rhetoric doesn’t bother me – it’s the convention, you expect some hardcore marketing. What bothers me in the pervading assumption that there are some magic policies that will help out the very diverse group of Americans who make up the middle class. I look at the areas of my financial life that are causing difficulties for me and I think: no one’s talking about that.
I’m not saying my specific concerns should be addressed on a national level, just that I think my situation exemplifies how disingenuous it is for the Democrats to more-or-less claim their policies are just what we all need.
According to Barack Obama’s marketing materials, he wants to give me a tax break. O.k. A few extra dollars would be nice. But you know what tax issue really burdens me? The self employment tax. In a nation that supposedly loves entrepreneurs, our tax code loves to punish the self employed. I paid more is social security taxes last year than I paid in income taxes. But Obama’s not going to address the problem, not because most self-employed individuals aren’t solidly middle class but because the self employment tax is part of Social Security and Medicare and no Democrat is going to admit that those programs need any reform outside of increasing taxes.
You know what also burdens me? Preschool. Now, I’m sure I could afford some dirty daycare but I want my children to get some early education and constructive childcare while my wife and I work. I spend far more a month on sending my kids to a decent preschool than I do on any other bill, except for my mortgage. If I were poor, I could get my kids into Head Start. If I were wealthy, affording preschool wouldn’t be a problem. But us middle class types who want preschool for our children are left with some “struggling to make ends meet†moments. My wife and I manage and I’m not saying I’d reflexively support government-funded preschool, but it seems to me that such a kitchen-table issue is a heck of a lot more important than how many houses John McCain owns.
How about you other middle class folks? Would Obama’s or McCain’s policies really help you out? Leave altruism at the door. This is about you.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Democrats, Economy, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Universal healthcare and a bigger tax rebate would help me out, I don’t have kids and i’m not self employed so that doesn’t bother me, like you said there is too much out there for any politicina to target every person, so thery go for general stuff like tax breaks
August 27th, 2008 at 8:26 am
The largest part of the problem here is that self-employed people are particularly well organized in terms of lobbying. When the tax code is written up, someone’s left holding the bag….
Obama would raise the $200,000 tax bracket back up 39.6%, which would bringing in more revenue and take some of the pressure off us normal folks.
Concerning pre-school, I couldn’t agree more that having a universal preschool would probably be one of the single best policy proposals. The sooner we get to educating kids, the more effective and productive they grow up to be.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:10 am
The solution is simple. Just ask the Democrats and they will provide you with whatever you want for free.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I made $4200 last year and paid no income taxes but paid $360 in self-employment taxes.
August 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
The standard of living in this country has been destroyed …
August 27th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
…. check out how the standard of living was destroyed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jokEUDq8ec
August 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Does the “externalities” mean anything to you Jimmy? How about “public goods”? Anyone in the with a high shool econ course under his belt will tell you that certain thing: non-excludable, non-rival things will never be effectively allocated by the government. And yes, education happens to be one of them.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
strike “government” and replace with “free market”
sorry, I’m a little tired.