American Middle Class


Globalization is affecting nowadays the American middle and lower class. The United States is still a superpower, though it is facing competition from beyond its borders as well as internal difficulties.

According to German’s best seller “World War for Wealth: The Global Grab for power and prosperity”, there are three basic characteristics, whose simultaneous development have given shape to the countries biggest strengths but also its greatest weakness.

First of all, Americans have been considered since the very beginning of the country’s foundation, as adventurous and hard workers. A high concentration of optimism, daring and unabashed curiosity seems to be the nation’s genetic code.
On the other hand, the optimistic value often blurs the line with naivety. Millions of lower and middle class households have practically given up on putting aside any savings.

Secondly, American everyday culture has spread around throughout the world. The United States is an extensively global country, marking its people as true children of the world. Promoting the worldwide exchange of commodities like no other nation, globalization is now striking back in America. Some production sectors have now left the country for good. Free trade, which had primarily been beneficial are now cutting off a large slice of America’s global market.

Thirdly, The United States is the only nation that does business globally in its own currency. Nevertheless, the dollar doesn’t just strengthen the country, it also makes it vulnerable: the government has pumped its currency into the world economy so vigorously that the dollar can now be brought to the point of collapse by external forces.

As said before, at the start of the new century, the United States is still a superpower, however, the feedback effects involved in globalization are specially intense for the country’s economy. Its undoubted superiority exists no longer, as for some years now energy has been flowing in the opposite direction. Asian, Latin American and European nations are also playing a role in the United States.
Every important national economy in the world now exports products to the States without purchasing and equivalent amount of US goods in return. The world’s greatest exporter and creditor became its greatest importer and debtor.

American Middle Class

The American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class due to the considerable diversity among its members.

The middle classers are very influential, as they encompass the majority of voters, writers, teachers, journalists, and editors. Middle class values tend to emphasize independence, adherent to intrinsic standards, valuing innovation and representing non-conformity.

Many sociologists divide the middle class into two groups: upper middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by high educational attainment as well as economic security; and lower middle class, consisting of semi-professionals college education is one of the main indicators of middle class status.

Most societal trends in the US originate within this population. It seems important to remark that politically, educated middle class professionals are an active but split society, and despite the fact that the professionals is a privileged minority, it is perhaps the most influential class in the United States. “Most ideas that find their way into the cultural mainstream…are crafted by a relative elite: people who are well educated, reasonably well-paid, and who overlap, socially and through family ties, with at least the middling levels of the Business community – in short, the professional middle class”.


Candidate Marak Obam’s administration in favor of Protectionism

As for Obama’s administration to protect the US economy from foreign trade, it would be a risk for the stability of American economy to limit free trade, because this has been an important factor for the growth of the United States economy.

If Democrat candidate Obama suppressed foreign trade, the labor costs in the United States would be much more expensive causing prices to rise considerably.

For example, The US sends many products to be manufactured abroad because hand labor costs in other countries such as Mexico are significantly lower. If the US would begin manufacturing within the country, it would create on one hand more working places for American citizen but on the other hand costs would increase.

Many mayor corporations would be greatly affected, and therefore the American economy would be affected as well. This mayor corporations control the stock market in the US, if they are affected this could affect the stock market and the capital involved (biggest stock market in the world).

I consider that for the country’s best interest, considering specially the middle and lower class, it would be best to supreme free trade completely but to modify some of its clauses to protect American workers without damaging the mayor corporations and the American economy.