{"id":40989,"date":"2014-02-04T09:17:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T16:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/04\/follow-the-money-that-follows-the-money.html"},"modified":"2014-02-04T09:17:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T16:17:41","slug":"follow-the-money-that-follows-the-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/04\/follow-the-money-that-follows-the-money.html","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Money (that Follows the Money)"},"content":{"rendered":"
The business world is taking note of the dwindling middle class in a way that ignores politics, but simply acknowledges who's spending on what.<\/p>\n

It's possible this reflects less economic reality than demand, that it's less about middle class existence than middle class spending — e.g., many middle class are still focusing on bargain brands \/ outlets to make their dollars go further (esp. post-recession), while some are willing to go (back further) into debt to avoid bourgeois Olive Gardens in favor of somewhat more upscale Capitol Grilles.<\/p>\n

But its still an interesting trend.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Yonatan Zunger<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What I like about this article is the straightforwardness of the numbers. Most statistics you hear about politically charged topics like the economy are suspect, because their purveyor (or publisher) has a horse in the race: they want to show how well the economy is doing, how badly it's doing, how much or little inequality there is or would be under their proposed plans, and so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But if you go over to things like clothing retailers, appliance retailers, restaurant chains, and so on, they don't have the luxury of screwing around with political statistics. They need to actually know what is going on with people if they want to remain solvent — which means the statistics they use to make their purchasing decisions had damned well better be accurate.<\/p>\n

And what we find is unsurprising, although the details are quite interesting. Essentially, the "mid-range" of various business sectors is collapsing; people are either buying discount goods (the cheapest possible) or luxury goods. Traditional things aimed at the middle of the middle class — be it mid-range restaurants like the Olive Garden or Red Lobster, mass-market (as opposed to high-end) appliances from GE, or discount sellers of high-end clothing like Loehman's — simply aren't selling, and haven't been for a while.\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n \n <\/div>\n

The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World.<\/a>
\n The post-recession reality is that the customer base for businesses that appeal to the middle class is shrinking as the top tier pulls even further away.\n <\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The business world is taking note of the dwindling middle class in a way that ignores politics, but simply acknowledges who's spending on what. It's possible this reflects less economic reality than demand, that it's less about middle class existence than middle class spending — e.g., many middle class are still focusing on bargain brands … Continue reading “Follow the Money (that Follows the Money)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":135134,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/21\/rob-middle-class-give-rich.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":0},"title":"To rob from the middle class and give to the rich","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 21-Oct-17 12:16am","format":false,"excerpt":"I mean, that sounds like liberal rhetoric, but that's precisely what some in the GOP are considering with their plan to cut income and business taxes -- with the greatest benefits going to the most wealthy in our country -- and paying for some of the loss in federal revenue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-10.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135323,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/08\/trump-makes-ultimate-sacrifice-middle-class.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":1},"title":"Trump makes the ultimate sacrifice for the middle class","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Nov-17 9:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Never mind what you've heard from ... well ... pretty much everyone. The GOP Tax Plan doesn't help the rich (like Trump). It actually hurts the rich (like Trump). How do we know? Trump is telling us. Or, rather, telling moderate Democrats, to encourage them to vote for the GOP\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/tax-code-2017.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20291,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/02\/22\/unblogged-bits-tue-22-feb-11-1030.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":2},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Tue. 22-Feb-11 1030)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Feb-11 10:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... \u201cBack to their Future\u201d photographs - These are some of the best then-now snapshots I've seen. A lot of attention to detail here. If Star Wars was real - Nicely done \"antique photos.\" An\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38492,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/16\/middle-classy.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":3},"title":"Middle-classy","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Aug-13 3:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And, remember, this guy is expected to (once again) be a contender for the GOP presidential nomination in couple of years.Reshared post from +Jeffrey RaskinChildren say the darndest thingsLittle Ricky Santorum says that using the term \"middle class\" is to engage in \"Marxism Talk,\" since there are no\u00a0\"classes\" in America.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38458,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/14\/college-admissions-and-the-madness-of-positioning.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":4},"title":"College admissions and the madness of "positioning"","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Aug-13 8:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, this is just what I don't want to be reading as my daughter enters eighth grade, which is just one year from high school, which is just four years from college.Because, honestly, what I don't want is for her (and we) to be spending the next four years triangulating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39296,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/22\/i-guess-you-can-call-me-elitist-andor-out-of-touch.html","url_meta":{"origin":40989,"position":5},"title":"I guess you can call me elitist and\/or out of touch","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Oct-13 12:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I guess.Unlike Bruce, I scored a 27 . \u00a0Which fits in nicely with \"A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents\" (depending on how you define middle-class and upper-middle-class).Does that make me part of \"the super wealthy, super educated and super snobby who live in so-called super-ZIPs: cloistered together, with little\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}