Note that under Bill Clinton, many important things happened which were detrimental to the middle class:
Bill Clinton raised taxes shortly after taking office in 1993 even though he had run promising not to.
Part-time employment soared as a result.
Borrowing from home equity lines also soared as the middle class struggled to maintain its lifestyle in the wake of the recent recession, reducing "owners' equity in real estate" dramatically.
And, of course, the percentage of Americans not making the raw average wage ballooned by 2.6 points under Clinton, and by 4.1 points total by 2018.
The difference between a payroll population not making the raw average wage in 2018 at 63.3% vs. 67.4% is 6.87 million.
That's roughly equivalent to the number of homes lost to foreclosure in the housing debacle, which bottomed in the spring of 2012. The share not making the average wage first hit 67% that same year.
This history since 1990 is a picture of the middle class under pressure and actually shrinking.
The only good thing that can be said about it is that the trend is flat since 2015, not worsening.
This history since 1990 is a picture of the middle class under pressure and actually shrinking.
The only good thing that can be said about it is that the trend is flat since 2015, not worsening.
