Middle Class Lifeboat Blog

by Sarah Anne Edwards
co-author Middle-Class Lifeboat
“Who is the middle-class?” This is the most common question we have been asked while doing dozens of radio interviews this month. Economists answer that question by citing specific income ranges. But the ranges vary widely, anywhere from $25,000 to $250,000. So income doesn’t seem to be the key to why 60% of Americans define themselves as middle class.

Middle class is more of a state of mind than a bank balance. We define ourselves as middle class as long as we feel we’re on track to success and thereby to a happy, secure life. But just what is success?

That is the question John Izzzo, Ph.D., asked 250 people from all walks of life in writing is book Five Secrets You Must Discover before You Die. You might be surprised at the answers he got.

First, he found that 84% of people he interviewed reported that “having money beyond a basic level of comfort did not increase their personal happiness.”  Second, he found that 81% said the most important factor in career happiness was “being true to yourself.”

Psychologist and associate professor at Knox College, Tim Kasser
goes a step further in disconnecting happiness from material success. In his books, The High Price of Materialism and Psychology and Consumer Culture, The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World, Kasser summarizes extensive research to show that after reaching a basic level of comfort, continually striving for more money and more things actually works against our sense of happiness. 

In writing Middle-Class Lifeboat, we found that in choosing to pursue new lifestyles and sometimes new careers, the people we interviewed had re-defined success. It no longer meant making more money or owning more things. They were stepping out of our materialistic consumer culture and found they were HAPPIER!!

So instead of aspiring to some externally-measured, material definition of success, perhaps it’s time for us to re-evaluate what makes us happy and define that as success. What would that be for you? How would it be different from what society defines as “success?”

by Sarah Anne Edwards
co-author Middle-Class Lifeboat

A new USA Today/Gallop poll says most says Americans are deeply worried about maintaining their standard of living. 42% say the nation’s economic conditions are poor. 39% percent say it’s fair. 72% say it will be getting worse.

The greatest worry is the rising cost of gasoline and home heating prices, which concerns a whopping 57% Half of the families are worried about maintaining their standard of living. Almost as many are worried about having enough money after they retire, 47%, having to postpone their retirement, 45%, and the rising costs of health care, 43%. Other worries more than one in three people worry about include losing the value of their homes, not being able to afford college tuition or pay off college debt.

But it seems in American hope springs eternal. Although 76% of people think the economy is getting worse,  60% say that they personally will be better off this time next year. Hmm. What accounts for this? Read the rest of this entry »

by Sarah Anne Edwards
author, Middle-Class Lifeboat
  When John Edwards pulled out of the Presidential primary this week, analysts blamed his inability to connect with voters on his message of ending poverty in America. My response was “poverty?” Is that what John Edwards was talking about? I thought he was talking about the protecting the financial security of the everyday working middle class.
  That got me to thinking … just what is poverty these days? When I worked for the War on Poverty in the 1960’s, poverty was about those among us who went to bed hungry every night, who lived on the streets, who didn’t have jobs, or who lived in tenements and rural shacks. There are still the poor among us in this sense, but since that time millions of people in the US have risen out of that kind of poverty.
  But now millions of the non-poor folks are wondering if they’re only one illness or one lay off away from poverty. Why? Read the rest of this entry »

Practical Tips to Begin the Help You Lift Your Load
by Paul Edwards
co-author Middle-Class Lifeboat

Many Americans are drowning in debt. The average American is carrying over $9000 in credit card debt. Many also have upside down auto loans, ballooning mortgage payments, and college loans.

Is there a Middle Class Lifeboat amidst this sea of debt? Yes, but reducing debt is a necessary step in preparing our own middle-class lifeboat because being weighted down by debt limits your vision and your choices for building a secure lifeboat. So here are some specific things you can do to get rid of debt: Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you own a condo, single-family home, or are hoping to become a home-owner, today’s housing crisis is having a ripple effect throughout the world economy… and heading towards our doorsteps. Listen to our 1/22/08 interview on Dr. Carol Lieberman’s VoiceAmerica Radio Show along with guest Dean Valeriano, President and Co-Owner of Back Bay Funding & Realty. She asks Will the Housing Crisis Put You in the Poor House? It’s a lively discussion about what we can do to protect our homes and financial futures. It’s playing here .

by Sarah Edwards

Suddenly the President, the chairman of the Federal Reserve bank, and the candidates running for the Presidential primary are very concerned about the middle class! We’re center stage in their attention. With good reason, of course. Prices of food and gasoline are rising, foreclosures are escalating, inflation is looming, the value of the dollar is falling, unemployment is up, consumer credit is tightening.

All of this has been brewing for sometime now, but it must be getting really bad now because all these folks rushing to set forth their version of an emergency program. So we had better pay close attention and be ready to make our voices heard. What do we need to be considering? Read the rest of this entry »

by Paul & Sarah Edwards
Visit us at MiddleClassLifeboat.com

The Presidential primaries are sizzling right now and that’s good for us! Right now there are actually nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat contests within both parties and no clear winners in sight. This means that at least until February 5th, when 23 states will hold a caucus or primary, we in the middle class have a better chance than usual to scrutinize the candidates to see if the middle-class concerns, hopes and fears matter to them. 

Do any of them care about us? Some pundits say none of them really do, that they’re all too beholden to industry lobbyists and mega corporate donors. Yet some candidates are saying they do care. Some have expressed concerns about the rising pressures we’re facing, our dwindling numbers and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. But do they really care, or are such comments only spins and convenient sound bites thrown out because they know we still make up most of American voters?

We’ve each got to determine for ourselves who, if anyone, really care and we have to do it right now because February 5th is less than a month away. So how can we get beneath the spin? Well … first Read the rest of this entry »

by Paul & Sarah Edwards
Visit us at MiddleClassLifeboat.com

Oh yes, of course, we already are angry. Angrier, studies show, than we once were as a nation of people. We’re angry at the slow drivers ahead of us in traffic. We’re angry at the people who take too much time talking to the clerk in line ahead of us. But what about all the things that are making it harder and harder for us to live a decent middle class life?

For example, did you know that the increase in incomes of the top one percent of Americans from 2003-2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent ? Well, that’s what data from a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.

This is but one indication that, as so many folks are feeling these days, that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening and the middle class is shrinking.

Stay tuned for a chance to dialog on the latest news on the things we as a shrinking middle class should really be angry about. Then we won’t have to get so bothered with little things that don’t matter all that much and can channel our anger instead into raising a collective middle class voice for change.