On monday june 13, 2005 my local paper ran a column of paul krugman of the ny times entitled "American Middele Class Is Sinking". It is the first time I saw any ny times writer or any jew show any concern for the working class since the jews of my fathers generation did so. If you can find it on the web its well worth reading. He starts with " Baby boomers like me grew up in a relatively equal society. In the 1960s America was a place in which very few people were extremely wealthy, many blue colloar workers earned wages that placed them comfortably in the middle class, and working families could expect steadily rising living standards and a reasonable dgree of economic security. KRUGER IS CORRECT SO FAR But as ther new york times series on class in america reminds us, THAT WAS ANOTHER COUNTRY. The middle class society that I grew up in no longer exists. Working families have seen little if any progress over the last 30 years. Adjusted for inflation, the income of the MEDIAN family doubled between 1947 and 1973. But it rose only 22 percent from 1973 to 2003 and much of that gain was the result of WIVES ENTERING THE PAID LABOR FORCE OR WORKING LONGER HOURS, not rising wages. " KRUGER IS STILL CORRECT!!! I HAVE BEEN WRITING THESE THINGS FOR YEARS> AND IT WAS GREAT HOW HE USED "MEDIAN" INSTEAD OF "AVERAGE". WITH AVERAGE YOU AVERAGE IN THE WEALTH OF ALL THE MULTI BILLIONAIRES, WITH MEDIAN YOU DON'T. Mean while, economic security is a thing of the past: Yera toi year fluctuations in the incomes of working families are far larger than they were a generation ago. All it takes is a bit of bad luck in imployment or health to plunge a family that seems solidly middle class into poverty. KRUGMAN IS STILL RIGHT ON. WOW! A BORN INTO THE MIDDLE CLASS BABY BOOMER JEW WHO DOES NOT HATE THE WORKING CLASS!!! But the wealthy have done very well indeed . Since 1973 the average income of the top one percent of americans has doubled, and the income of the top 0.1 percent has tripled. Why is this happening? Middle class America didnt emerge by accident. It was created by what has been called the Great Compression of incomes that took place during WWII, and sustained for a generation by social normes that favored equality, strong labor unions and progressive taxation. Since the 1970s, all these sustaining forces have lost their power. THIS IS ALL OKAY SO FAR BUT THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IS EITHER AN INCREDIBLE PIECE OF IGNORANCE OR A TOTAL LIE!!!!! " Since 1980 in particular, US government policies have consistently favored the wealthy at the expense or working families...... IT GOES ON FOR ANOTHER SEVEN PARAGRAPHS OR SO which you will have to look up for yourself as it has nothing to do with my point and as someone who studies Astrophysics for ten years I never learned to type and this is wearing me out. NOW NOTE THAT EVERYTHING KRUGMAN SIAD UNTIL THE LAST PARAGRAPH I TYPED WAS GREAT TO SEE IN A PAPER LIKE THE NY TIMES. BUT NOTE THAT KRUGMAN REPEATEDLY STATED THAT THE WHOLE THING COLLAPSED IN 1973 YET HE SUDDENLY JUMPS AHEAD TO 1980 JUST SO HE COULD BLAME IT ON RONALD REAGAN! Balderdash! I grew up by the East River docks in a working-poor neighborhood. I worked in many factories and filled out many job applications I EXPERIENCED what actually happened. THE AMERICAN WORKING CLASS WAS DESTROYED DUE TO AMERICAS "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP" WITH ISRAEL!!!! The Muslims attacked Israel in October 1973 just like Israel attacked them in 1956 and 1967. When the Muslims were doing well for the first time ever Golda Meir (sp?) called for help from Nixon. The muslims warned him not to or they world retaliate against America. Nixon sent the equipment and almost got us into a nuclear war with the USSR- the closest we have come to one since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Muslims then turned off our oil supple and the american working class industrial base was destroyed. It was those INDUSTRIAL UNION JOBS that pulled up ALL the job wages in america and made it possible for people to rise from poverty to middle class via the working class. I spent the 1970s looking for work towork through grad school (all the assistanships went to 'women and minorities' and to hades with anyone else.) The jobs NEVER came back from that debacle. Note that KRUGMAN is Jewish ( as are almost everyone on the TIMES) and he had to hide 1973 even though he admitted he lived through the time as it was, once again, having to do with America propping up the still-born 'state' of Israel. He told the truth about the 1945 to 1972 period, but not the rest. But thats more than anyone else in the media ever gives us so I guess we have to be thankful for that much. 6-13-2005 // I just typed in PAUL KRUGMAN and got both his official and unofficial sites. He hates Buchanan and he supports free trade. Typical born into the middle class spoiled brat of our generation. But at least the first part of his article was correct which makes him much better than the rest.