I call BULLSHIT

Annalyn Censky writes for Communist Noise Nutworks. AKA the most unwatched network. She opted in this piece that the down fall of the middle class is due to the demise of the unions thanks to Eeevvviiilll rethuglikins.

Are you better off than your parents?
Well, as a matter of fact, I am!
Probably not if you're in the middle class.
Well, as a matter of fact, I am!
Incomes for 90% of Americans have been stuck in neutral, and it's not just because of the Great Recession. Middle-class incomes have been stagnant for at least a generation, while the wealthiest tier has surged ahead at lighting speed.
In 1988, the income of an average American taxpayer was $33,400, adjusted for inflation. Fast forward 20 years, and not much had changed: The average income was still just $33,000 in 2008, according to IRS data.
Meanwhile, the richest 1% of Americans -- those making $380,000 or more -- have seen their incomes grow 33% over the last 20 years, leaving average Americans in the dust. Experts point to some of the usual suspects -- like technology and globalization -- to explain the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.
But there's more to the story.
Oh yes there is! Smart people invest for their future, and those who got rich didn't do it by being stupid. Some are heirs of fortunes, and those who are stupid heirs eventually join the middle class, and some times the poor by their choices.
A real drag on the middle class
One major pull on the working man was the decline of unions and other labor protections, said Bill Rodgers, a former chief economist for the Labor Department, now a professor at Rutgers University.
So let me make sure I've got this right. Unions have driven jobs overseas by making the costs of American made goods so high that foreign goods became a bargain. They have demanded and received crazy concessions and produce less for the money, yet they are some how the good guys? Union strikes have forced Americans to buy foreign products because American made ones were simply not available because of the strikes. And for this you think they are hero's?
Unions now represent less than 3% of private sector jobs. We have labor laws aplenty.
The unions have poured vast amounts of currency into the war chests of democrat campaigners who have repaid them by lowering tariffs on foreign goods, and implementing all manner of crazy rules on emissions of CO2 because of faux science data, yet these are the good guys?
But union membership has declined rapidly over the past 30 years. In 1983, union workers made up about 20% of the workforce. In 2010, they represented less than 12%.
In fact, the only places unions thrive is where membership is required for the position such as government jobs. Yup, all those great union benefits prompted folks to join by the thousands... Or not!
"The erosion of collective bargaining is a key factor to explain why low-wage workers and middle income workers have seen their wages not stay up with inflation," Rodgers said.
Without collective bargaining pushing up wages, especially for blue-collar work -- average incomes have stagnated.
The fact is that increases in minimum wages drive up the bottom line. As wages go up, costs of production go up, and prices go up. Its a never ending cycle. The only time wages can increase with out driving up prices is when production per work hour also increases. Its simple economics, something not taught to Rotgut professors. Yet in spite of her assertion, wages, adjusted for inflation have remained constant. Another fact of life is that many workers are escaping the middle class. The number of millionaires in America is on the rise, and its not because of inflation.
Another glaring fact is our poor are better off then the middle class of many nations. Our welfare queens have flat screen TVs and deluxe cell phones.
Americas middle class is held down, but the real culprit is taxation. Whereas in 1940 the income tax was 2%, now it tops 30% for industrious folks. That right there is whats killing our middle class, taxes so welfare queens can have luxuries.