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Last week the census bureau reported that in 2007, after adjusting for inflation, middle income Americans experienced the lowest income level since 1997.
What kind of impact are middle income Americans likely to have in the US economy going forward? How will this impact consumer spending which represents about 2/3 of the US economy?
I will share my thoughts on this with you next week after you have a chance to voice your opinion.
Middle class American’s are the driving force behind 2/3’s of the US economy, this tells me that the economy will suffer in certain areas while other areas remain either unaffected by it. With less income in the past 10 years Americans that are finding themselves in this group will have to make sacrifices to keep their priorities above whatever luxuries they had prior to the downturn of the economy. That being the condition that the economy is going through, middle class Americans will focus more on spending what money they have available on things they need such as food, clothes, ect. This will put a strain on businesses and companies that focus on things that wouldn’t be essential to the point where they have no choice but to close down or lay people off because of a lack of consumers, leaving many out of jobs, only to increase on the unemployment rate, further adding to the stress of not being able to make ends meet for many lower middle class Americans. So until middle class Americans regain some of the lost income within the near future, business’ that are not essential for basic living will continue to suffer, further adding to the economic problem, meanwhile other places remain virtually unharmed.
Middle income Americans are likely to greatly impact the U.S. economy. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics spending has a big impact on the economy. Due to the fact that the more product a company needs to produce the more employees they will need to hire. Therefore according to the B.L.S. they are projecting a growth in jobs by the year 2010. The B.L.S. reports that 61 percent of jobs in 2010 will be from consumer expenditures.
Consumer spending from middle income Americans will likely stay where it is for the time being thanks to the economic crisis our country is facing right now. Today it would be extremely difficult to find someone in the large pool of middle income families who are not cutting back, spending less, living without, eliminating royalties from their life, etc. I feel the economic crunch is aiding our society to safeguard our money more, clearly spending less. Consumer spending would help to rejuvenate the market, but ironically people just don’t have the money to spend are living more conservatively. Middle income America will continue to live without and suffer until our society collectively with the Federal government can ‘bail out’ of this financial mess.
Going forward, I believe middle income Americans will get worse. Americans can barely afford anything right now due to recession and we make up a majority of the world. Housing and normal billing situations are going up higher and jobs are depleting as we speak. Gas prices and taxes are rising. Right now it’s slowing down, but at this rate if it doesn’t change for the better the economy will only get worse. Therefore, consumer should restrain their spending habits.
That impact that middle income Americans will have on the US economy going forward will, in my opinion, be slim to none. Most middle income families from what I have seen are facing threats of lay-offs, along with the already high unemployment rate; which on top of higher taxes means that people just won’t be willing to spend as much on luxuries, which are a big part of driving our economy. Which means most middle income families will be smarter with their money, instead of buying that new 50″ LED flat screen television they will be more focused on buying what’s important; like food and clothing and that means the tax hike might not have as much of an effect as the government had hoped. Seeing as though clothes and food are not taxable they will generate no profit for the government to help stimulate the economy but rather for the company selling them. With all that said and done I do not believe that the middle income families will be of much help as the driving force behind the American economy.
The middle class americans are the ones that keep the economy going. If the middle class is not spending money, then the rich are not getting any money. With all of the bail out money that the government has put into all these large corporations took away roughly $250,000 that could have been given to the middle class. By not generating this money to the middle class is not allowing consumers to help stimulate the economy. Without the middle class having money to spend, the economy will not get any better, they are what makes the economy stable.
I believe middle income Americans have a huge impact on the US economy because we do represent two-thirds of it. Since adjusting for inflation middle income Americans have the lowest income level, which causes the economy to still be in a downfall. As the lowest income level class and beinng the majority it causes us to cut back spending on many things that are unnesessary. We need more jobs for our middle income Americans so the economy can start to rise. Therefore, i believe the economy will get better but very slowly.
After reading serval articles it is appearant that the middle class is suffering but the recession is soon to end. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says that the economy is growing in light of the sgnificant “unemployment rate which has reached 9.7%.” The government reported that retail slaes jumped 2.7% in august. Wallstreet also reported great news when the Dow Jones industrial avg. gained “nearly 57 points to 9,683.41, its highest finish since Oct. 6.” I believe through these refrences the middle class will return to consuming, stimulating the economy.
What kind of impact are middle income Americans likely to have in the US economy going forward? How will this impact consumer spending which represents about 2/3 of the US economy?
- As of what I seen middle income Americans are going to keep the economy either the same or slightly more depending on how many job openings government will create. My mother has a long list of work experience has been laid off for almost a year now and i don’t see this economy moving forward unless they can open more jobs for more middle class Americans. More jobs equals more spending and more spending will better the economy. In conclusion i do believe middle class Americans are a great impact in this poor economy however there’s only so much they can do if there isn’t better help from government.
The middle income Americans will continue to struggle to meet ends meet, resulting in less consumer spending. According to the BEA, the real GDP is declining at 1% for the past two quarters. The BEA also states that corporate income tax has increased by ten’s of billions of dollars. Exports of goods from America and personal consumption spending has both decreased as well. With higher taxes, currently less spending, GDP declining, and less exporting the middle income Americans will be more conservative with their money causing more damage to the economy.
At this moment middle income Americans are facing financial troubles due to to several factors in today’s economy; unemployment being at top of list. I personally think that middle income Americans would have a negative impact in the near future; especially in the consuming aspect. In conclusion we know that we are living in a hard time at this moment, but the economy will improve slowly; it would be a long shot to emerge from this one like in the past, also we need to be patient in order to cope with this situation, look and move forward.
As middle income American’s are spending less, it’s having a huge impact on the economy. With unemployment at 9.4%, middle income American’s have no choice, but to spend less. However, according to CNBC, retail sales are up 2.7%. Whether, consumers are spending their money on frivolous things, or necessities, they’re still spending, even if it’s only a little.
One of the reasons for this current recession is becuase nobody is spending money, primarlily the middle class. The middle class represents about 2/3’s of the population in america and they are also the main consumers. They cant spend their money becuase they dont have money to spend. The banks are unable to give out loans to people to get cash flowing back in the economy. Americanprogress.com says “The savings rate reached zero percent in June 2005. This is not because many households don’t want to save more, but because they often can’t.” Middle class families are using the money that they could save because prices are so high it is neccessary just to make ends meet. In my opinion, middle class americans will always have the most impact on the economy because they are of the greatest population. Untill there is money in the economy and the middle class is spending it, the economy while rise once again. I believe that all three classes first class, middle class, and the poor, have to work together intorder to establish a central agreement to start fixing the economy. Once that is completed consumers would once again consume and the economy will thrive.
I believe that the economy is not going to stabilize in a while because people keep losing their jobs, and there are more uninsured people rising fast. The impact that middle income Americans are most likely to have in the US economy is not going forward because income will keep increasing every day of recession. Poverty rates keeps jumping and the prices are in the skies. According to Paul, Johnson the author of Forbes Magazine he believes that “we are in for a long recession” because even with the increased of homes affordability, greater demand for automobiles and the growth in the European economy, the recovering plan points out that economic recovery includes rising consumer spending. The economy won’t recover until they find a stimulus plan that will help create jobs. The consumer’s spending will stay low because of the banks not lending and all the unemployment and uninsureds.
I believe with the decreasing amount of jobs at hand the middle class income Americans will see their earnings keep getting lower. If we are losing the consumers which lead to people loosing their jobs there is no way the economy is going to become any better. The economy, in the last five years has done nothing but skyrocket to the ground. An article from MSNBC says “It found that a majority of Americans said they have not progressed in the past five years. One in four said their economic situation had not improved, while 31 percent said they had fallen backward, those numbers together are the highest since the survey question was first asked in 1964.” With the way things are going now I don’t see the middle class Americans gaining a upper hand in this economy anytime soon.
I believe the economy will become like a roller coaster with high points and low points. The unemployment rate in 2008 was at least 5.2% and now increased to 9.6% and middle class Americans will save up any money they have and not spend it on unimportant materials but instead for things they need to survive. Companies are doing more firing then they are hiring believing that would be a solution to save more money and survive the recession which The “NYTimes” stated it isn’t all bad because of the slow churning. The slow churning are making companies give higher wages to the recent employees and the few Americans that actually have extra money will spend that money that would more or less improve the economy. The extra money that employees are making and wasting will balance out for the money that many unemployed Americans are saving to survive.
The economy in the US is getting worst every day, because the rate of unemployment is increasing remarkable. According to the OECD unemployment is rate is likely to rise well into 2010, and could approach 10% if the economic recoveries remain weak. For the middle class income in America absolutely is tough time for them, because they have to watch out every penny before they want to spend. And also that money is tight everywhere so I believed that this situation is really hurting to everybody not just middle classes in the US.
I believe that it will be a long time before this economy recovers. According to the New York Times, forty percent of consumers have cut luxury expenses, and ten percent have cut back on necessities. Thirty-one percent of America’s population has cut back on both. Due to constant paycuts, and job layoffs, America’s economy is continuing to spiral downward. To fix this problem we must continue working hard, and spending less.
I think that consumer spending will begin to increase within the next year. According to the Wall Street Journal, “household wealth rose by $2 trillion for the first time in 2 years.” It also states that “household mortgage debt fell 1.4%, it was the largest percentage decline in consumer debt since 1980.” People have been spending more money and paying off more debts than they have in the last 2 years. With new jobs opening up and several news reports stating we are finally out of the recession, I believe that consumer spending will increase dramatically with then next year.
With the preset economic crisis the number of layoffs and unemployment has raised drastically. I believe that at these times, the focus of Americans has changed; the impulse to buy things and keep up with the most modern technology is last on their minds. Seeing that the middle class Americans, which compose 2/3 of the American population are experiencing a significant cut down on their income level, it is obvious that America’s economy will have an impact of loosing profitability of at least 2/3 of its population. On an article at the Wall Street Journal DeWayne Wells who is the president of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeast Michigan declared that they are providing food even to people who a year or two ago used to be financial donors. It’s clear that with the middle class concerned with putting food on their table, their spending will decrease significantly. Seeing that the middle class, the largest providers of income of united states are struggling financially, and most depending on the government’s help to survive, our economy is not going forward any time soon, and this will reduce consumers spending significantly.
I think the consumer spending will decrease as we move forward. Do to the fact that more and more middle class americans are getting layed off, and havent been earning as much money to start off with. They say that 2/3 of the US economy is consumer spending, but if this resetion continues there are going to be less consumers. Most middle class americans are struggling on paying bills let along other expences. The economy on middle income Americans already looks bad and i dont think it will get any better anytime soon.
I believe the impact of middle class Americans on the US economy is major and I do not think that people are going to be spending any more money than necessary. “Among the enormous costs of the downturn is the loss of some 5 million payroll jobs over the past 15 months,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The fact that many middle class Americans are losing their jobs does not help the falling economy. Bernanke also states that “Inflation in this type of economic environment is expected to remain low”, which is yet another factor to the economy going backward. Considering this, I do not see the economy moving forward anytime soon, at least not until Americans are given the opportunity of employment.
http://www.america.gov/st/business-english/2009/May/20090505115000dmslahrellek0.4212152.html
I know that the middle class is the backbone of the American economy, no matter how bad the economy is. The only way things will continue to get better in this bad economy is to stimulate it, by spending money. I know not everyone is made of money, believe me I’m struggling too, but its the only way that you can get a struggling economy to turn around. If we the consumer are not spending money to help the economy that means the government has to pump money into it, and all that means is inflation will continue to rise. So spend your money now, and suffer now because the economy will turn around really soon and it will reward us all for keeping it alive.
Going forward I don’t see the economy improving for the middle income Americans. According to the Census Bureau the median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. The Census Bureau also announced that the nation’s poverty rate increased from 12.5 percent to 13.2 percent with 39.8 million people in poverty. Consumer spending will be greatly impacted with significantly low consumer spending due to the high unemployment rate. According to the Wall Street Journal the United States had a record low of 2.4 million job openings, employers are in no rush to hire back the people they laid off. Therefore I don’t see the economy improving in the near future for the middle income Americans.
The middle income Americans are likely to negatively impact the US economy and consumer spending due to their hardships. According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans reduced spending by 3.1% in the past year. Americans cannot spend if they are unemployed and with the unemployment rate currently at 9.6% and increasing consumer spending is bound to decrease as unemployment increases. The median household income fell 3.6%, signifying that consumer rates will also decrease. The middle income Americans will continue to negatively impact the US economy and consumer spending.
Middle income Americans have changed their spending habits according to the economic downturn. According to the article in Time magazine called “How Consumers Shop Differently Today” by Sean Gregory, “There’s a willingness to buy used, rather than necessarily buy new.” Also, “Another key thing we are finding is that there are people in the parking lot of Trader Joe’s and ALDI, and Goodwill and the dollar stores, that were never there three years ago. The demographic profile of people willing to shop down is expanding.” Because of the recession and low income levels, middle income American consumers have recently been and will likely continue to be more parsimonious than they had been previously.
I believe it is going to be a while before the economy recovers from the recession. This is because the middle class is the main consumer in the US and with the middle struggling they will not be able to afford to consume what they have in the past. Meaning that the average american because that is what the middle class is spending less and saving more where in the past it was the other way around. The middle class are struggling to help the economy because a lot of them are losing there jobs which gives them no money to put back into the economy. This is why i believe the economy will take a while to recover from this recession.
Due to middle income Americans being hit the hardest by the economy crisis, conditions will most likely get worse before getting better.
Tax experts believe that President Obama’s economic advisors should be coming up with ways to cut spending and let the economy heal itself, instead of refusing to guarantee they will not raise taxes on middle class Americans. By proposing a multitude of tax increases to pay for the economic stimulus package, cap-and-trade program, and trillion dollar healthcare package, the middle class has no choice gut to cut back on consumer spending in order to pay their bills. Also, as stated by U.S economist Nigel Gault, employment is going to keep falling, which will not allow consumers to play a role in the economy’s recovery. Without implementing tax cuts primarily to the middle class to help the majority of Americans get out of the rut, there is no way they can have a positive impact on the economy going forward.
The impact middle income Americans are going to have on the economy is there will be a growing amount of debt, less spending, and more unemployment. Right now with wages at the same level but the prices of things like gas and food on the rise, people are going into even more debt trying to pay for their every day needs (an increase of 5.9% more credit card debt than last year). With gas and food prices on the rise, middle income Americans are cutting corners on their spending; “While their wages stay the same, the cost of everything else — energy, housing, transportation, tuition — goes up”which impacts consumer spending in an extremely negative way. Unemployment has more than doubled since the recession began in December 2007 and will keep inching its way up even after we see some improvement in the economy. There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved with the US economy and it will be a while before we see major changes I think.
Middle income Americans are likely to have a major impact in the US economy going forward, because an article on “Rebuild.Org” states “As the state of the economy declines the effects are different for each consumer. Overall, the Middle class seems to be carrying the burden of the current stress worse than their Upper Class counterparts”. Consumers spending account for two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity. An article in “Businessweek.com” states “Consumers had a good time in August. Retail sales jumped 2.7 percent, the biggest monthly increase in three years. Auto sales, helped by the government’s Cash for Clunkers incentives, jumped more than ten percent. Even excluding autos, typical consumer spending increased almost three times more than experts predicted”. “If those numbers keep improving, employers will be much more willing to hire people back and provide new job opportunities,” said Bill Rieber of Eyewitness News. I personally believe that this will impact consumer spending in a positive way that would be beneficial to the economy as a whole.
I’m not positive where Americans in the middle class income bracket will be in the future. It could be that they are thriving after the new challenges they have faced. They could also just be in the same position they are in now. Middle class Americans could also be losing and struggling to hang on. We do not know exactly what will happen in the economy in the future, therefore no one knows where middle class Americans will truly end up in the future.
I believe that the miiddle income americans will be spending less money due to the fact that unemployment is rising. Which means the economy will not improve by the end of this year. According to the Wall Street Journal “ the jobless rate worsened in Agust, rising to 9.7% from 9.4% in July. It was said the the stimulus package would create millions of jobs and would keep the unemployment from passing 8%. This with prices going up on food, gas, it is hard to believe that consumers would be spending there money. For this reason consumers are just spending there money on what they need not on accessories.
Even though the income level is low, people are still spending, taking advantage of sales, rebates and incentives such as Cash for Clunkers. According to the article “US Consumer Spending Climbs on ‘Cash for Clunkers’ by Shobhana Chandra on Bloomberg.com, adjusted for inflation, spending increased 0.2 percent following a 0.1 percent gain the prior month. Because the increase in spending was bigger than the gain in incomes, the savings rate fell to 4.2 percent from 4.5 percent the prior month. The article also states, purchases will probably climb at an average 1.6 percent quarterly rate through June 2010. So many consumers took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program that the program had to wait to receive more money before it could continue; proving people will spend if the price is right.
Middle income Americans will likely have the most significant impact on our economy’s recovery and further growth. In fact, President Obama has actually created a special White House Task force dedicated to this restoration. In a Pittsburgh speech earlier this week he stated, ““When our middle class succeeds, that’s when the United States of America succeeds” (MSNBC). Considering the middle income consumer accounts for 46% of overall spending (Federal Reserve Data, 2007), it is easy to see why our middle class is such a valuable resource in our economy’s revival. With an increased amount of middle class consumer spending, the US economy as a whole would benefit greatly.
The impact middle income Americans will have on the U.S. economy will most definitely be substantial. According to a Federal Reserve report released on September 8, 2009, consumer credit fell by 10% at an annual rate in July to a total of 2.5 trillion. This will cause consumers to be stuck repairing their finances instead of going out and buying products. With the amount of money middle income Americans bringing in being close to 1997 standards with the prices of 2009 I would expect a smaller amount of consumer spending which would negatively affect the U.S. economy. Add to the fact that unemployment is expected to reach near 10% and a decline in household wealth than I would expect it will take more than just consumer spending to get the economy out of the recession.
Middle income Americans are going to have a huge impact on our economy in the coming months. Consumer spending in the near future will increase rise. Stacy Straczynsk reports in her article Titled July Consumer Spending Rose to 2.15% “Consumer spending, rose to 2.15 percent in July…Unemployment claims decreased for the fourth consecutive month”. With a rise in consumer spending and a decrease in unemployment these two positive trends that show that middle-income families are bouncing back, and in increase in spending will likely follow.
I feel with middle income American’s earning less there will be less consumer spending. With the middle class making up as much as 66% of the United States population, and that average income has dropped there will not be as much money to spend. Also with the unstable job market families are more likely to hold onto any extra income, and be prepared for the worst. Also with unemployment continuing to rise there is an even larger lower class with no money to spend. In closing I feel that consumer spending will be negatively impacted by the decrease in income from the middle class.
The impact of middle income Americans i believe will hurt the U.S. economy in the future. Middle class Americans due to the rise of unemployment, will not be so fast to go out and buy products. I personally believe that most Americans will try to repair their economic status first before anything. I expect little consumer spending, which will hurt the U.S. economy. Unemployment rate is suppose to rise to nearly 10% adding to the decline of house value, I personally think we will need to do more than to buy a few products to get the economy flowing again and out of this recession.
The economy has undoubtedly slowed down recently. However, I believe that an upturn is very possible. This does not mean that everything will be fixed right away, but things may be moving in the right direction. “The Economist” had an article about the President’s recent speech on the anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse, where he stated that the financial industry is “beginning to return to normalcy”. In the same article, Ben Bernanke agreed that “the economy’s recovery will be weak initially, and job creation would be slow”. This is not the best news, but it gives some hope that maybe the hardest times are over and we are going to recover (possibly slowly) to a better economic state.
I feel that the economy/stock market are going to suffer greatly in the near future. With middle income accounting for forty six percent of spending, retail sales will start to decline in response to the reduced income. Aside from low income rates jobs are becoming outsourced by foreign countries. According to John McCarthy of Forrester Research, “An estimated 3.3 million jobs in the United States will have been outsourced between 2000 and 2015.”In addition inflation has caused the price of goods to increase over time making it hard to afford essentials for a family. For the next few years America will see drastic changes in the economy but it has to fall before it can rise.
Consumers spending is excepted to decreased because Americans don’t trust the economy. Until the US can prove to the middle class American that the economy is in an uprising, no one will be investing in products and/or services. Many middle class Americans are terrify to invest into money markets because they don’t want to risk their life savings. The US needs to come out with more incentives so the consumer can invest more money into the markets, for example cash for clunkers is exactly what going to help economy get back on its feet. With these new programs that the government is issuing well help the economy rise and will increase consumers spending.
I believe that the middle class will have less impact on the economy for the next few years. Studies show that middle class Americans are focusing on saving money and will spend less. Compared to year 2000 the middle class spent 10% more money on spending than this year. From this data I can say that consumer spending will go down and the economy also going down. This trend will go on until a major event happens in the world that will help the country get back to its feet.
I beleive it will take quiet some years for the economy to get back as it was, specially when the middle class income American which is compose of 2/3 of the population had lost 10 years of work from this recession. Now they are being more careful with the way they are spending money, and everyone is trying to save more and spend as less as they could. Base on an article from the “WSJ” the “U.S economy data” shows that the unimployment rate is projected to rise from 9.6% to 9.9% in a 6 months period;as of june 09 to December 09; but will drop in the next 6 monts following December by 1% to be 9.8%; which gives us hope that thing could be better. Plus from another article of “NYTimes” “Shares rises on bets for economic rebounds” by Jack Healy, it said that “the stock market touched their highest level this Wednesday and the street benchmark are optimistic that the economic rebound was under way”; from that same article,a report on “industrial production showed that factories increased their output for a second month in August, a sign that a recovery was under way”. It might take the economy more than 5 years to get back, but hopefully when it is back, we will be more careful in planning budgets, and all those mistakes would be experiences.
Since the income level has drastically dropped for the majority of middle income Americans and because the middle income population of America constitutes a large portion of spending, the economy is undoubtedly going to suffer even further down the line. According to SocialSecurity.gov, the adjustments to social security to keep up with inflation in 1997 was 2.1%, while in 2007, it was 5.8%. Judging by social security adjustments, the cost of living has over doubled, yet the level of income earned for the middle class citizen is about the same. Luxuries such as televisions and vacations are not as frequently purchased, as the family funds are being used for necessities such as food, water and shelter. While companies are producing, the citizens are not purchasing and because they cannot spend money they do not have, the economy will continue to fall.
I think that since Americans no longer trust the economy and where their money is going, consumer spending will decrease, therefore having a large negative effect on the economy. An article written in The NY Times states that the unemployment rate in NYC reached an eerily high rate of 10.3%. Thats higher than the national rate of 9.7%, and even the 8% rate for the rest of the state. But according to the Wall Street Journal, things may be taking a turn for the better. Household wealth has increased by 3.9%. Americans, in response to the recession, have saved more money and borrowed less reducing the debt they have already accumulated from mortgages and credit cards.
I believe that middle income Americans are least likely to spend in the near future because of the economy. Consumers are least likely to spend due to layoffs and higher taxes. The US economy will struggle due to the lack of consumer spending. With the holiday season approaching consumers will not be shopping as much as in the past. In my opinion the US economy will suffer from the lack of consumer spending.
With the unemployment rate rising I believe middle income Americans will not have a positive impact moving forward. In a big state like New York which generates lots if money by middle income families has seen the unemployment rate rise to 10.3%. “The number of unemployed city residents has risen to more than 415,000, the highest total on record” according to the New York Times. The New York Times also said that from July to present day the cities unemployment had risen from 9.5 percent to 9.7 percent. That is only New York, it is well documented that many other states are facing the same difficulty. This is why I think it will be a while until middle income Americans will have a positive impact moving forward.
As we move forward into the future, consumer spending will decrease and there will be a high rise in Unemployment, Foreclosures will generate all around the United States, and a high increase in tax rates. If income level goes low, its less likely for adults in the next generation to move on with their life. Adults would have to deal with high mortgage payments. they have to pay more taxes, and Unemployment could affect future college graduates as they enter into the world of work. Despite all other events that is affecting the economy, I think its better for American citizens to save more of there money to prevent future problems.
Middle America is in a heap of trouble in todays society. With the unemployment rate at the highest peak in decades,(according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics at 9.6% as of August 2009), the middle class simply doesn’t have the money to spend. This is creating a struggle with companies and corporations as the demands will decrease, thus creating less revenue, and forcing to cut back on even more jobs. The U.S. economy has forever been based on capital generated from the majority of the population(middle class). With unemployment on the rise, and net earnings down, it seems the economy is still heading in a downward spiral, and will be for some time.
I believe that if the job market does not get better the economy will keep getting worse. If middle Americans are making the lowest amount of income since 1997, there will be a negative impact on consumer spending. For example, companies will be producing products but wont be making the money to support the buiness which means they wont be able to pay their staff. Therefore, the numbers of unemployment will keep rising. As the gas prices and utilities keep rising in middle class Americans they will have a hard time keeping up the high rise of the economy. Without the American middle class earning a decent wage, the consumer spending will keep dropping and unemployment will keep increasing.