Middle Class Lifeboat Blog

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.