Giving the Middle Class the Middle Finger

Even as a child, this Margaret Bourke-White photograph moved me. I didn't understand why way back then, but today it quite obvious.

First, Bourke-White was an extraordinary photojournalist, and this single image shot during the Great Depression speaks volumes.

Second, the message in the photo is just as true today as it was 70 years ago and that is a crying shame.

The middle class, you see, is on its knees because of long-term trends and a Bush administration decidedly unfriendly to its plight -- be that access to affordable health-care insurance, the cost of a college education and most recently the collapse of the housing bubble.

The collapse of the housing market because of the underlying dishonesty of mortgage market is bad enough, but the market rescue plan being pushed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will only make matters worse.

We'll let Paul Krugman take up the story from here in a New York Times op-ed column:

"Right now the bleeding edge of the crisis in confidence involves worries that there may be large losses hidden inside so-called 'structured investment vehicles' — basically hedge funds that borrow from the public and invest the proceeds in mortgage-backed securities. The new [Paulson] plan would create a super-fund . . . which would seek to restore confidence by, um, borrowing from the public and investing the proceeds in mortgage-backed securities.

"The plan, in other words, looks like an attempt to solve the problem with smoke and mirrors. . . .

"I'd put it like this: Investors aren’t putting their money to work because they don’t know where the bad debts are. And when investors need clarity, the last thing you want to be doing is pumping out more smoke."

And I'd put it like this: The Bush administration and Wall Street are giving the middle class the middle finger and it's time that stopped.

Hat tip to Welcome to Pottersville