The crisis of middle-class America

Hat Tip to Facebook friend Rocca Mazza for pointing out this article from the Financial Times "The crisis of middle-class America".

Rocca writes:

"Outstanding reporting published in the Financial Times on the crisis of middle class America. This is real, a must-read story. The story looks deeply into a few typical middle class families being financially suffocated by the economy with stagnated wages and increasing bills to pay. At some point, somethings got to give.

One family has an autistic son whose future they fear in such an uncertain landscape.

"....in the past few years the Freemans have been running low on optimism. 'I guess the penny dropped in the last 18 months when we finally realised that it’s always going to be like this – we are never going to be able to retire on our savings,' says Connie. 'As for Andy,' she says, referring to her painfully shy but acutely observant son, 'the future really frightens me. If you’re young, it’s bad enough nowadays. But for a kid with autism?'"

This story also illustrates that while the wealthy become wealthier the poor are becoming poorer: ".....the annual incomes of the bottom 90..."

Here is a video link that accompanied the article, it is well worth the watch.