What kind of future are we creating?

The middle class is disappearing, and the will to fix the problem - to grow the economy - seems to be fading.  Whether it is an individual or a business, looking to the Federal government for handouts, grants and subsidies has become a way of life.  But - any program or public expense that purports to help the local economy and bring in new jobs has to be looked at carefully.  How much government aid do we spend in taxes and loss of services for the actual jobs, increased property taxes and benefits that development brings?  

The concept of "mixed-use" development has come to mean apartment units stacked on top of (or next to) "retail shops and restaurants."  Architects' renderings of the Foothills Development, Lake Grove Village Center, Lake Oswego Town Center, and the Wizer Block Development show happy people strolling wide sidewalks next to open air bistros and a collection of "unique" local shops.  Once the construction crews have gone, where will the jobs be?  

The bulk of shop clerks and food service workers will not be earning middle-class wages.  The answer isn't to build "workforce housing" - we know what a waste of money that is.  The answer might be to entice high-paying tech or manufacturing jobs to the city instead.  Grow the economy and all else will follow.  Well, maybe not mixed-use development.  Perhaps people will have to bike a bit further to get to their middle class jobs.  Or can we start measuring "happiness" instead of GDP or average income and call it good.  

 

THE U.S. MIDDLE CLASS IS TURNING PROLETARIAN

From newgeography.com. by Joel Kotkin 02/16/2014

Excerpt:

Roughly one in three people born into middle class-households , those between the 30th and 70th percentiles of income, now fall out of that status as adults.

Neither party has a reasonable program to halt the decline of the middle class. Previous generations of liberals — say Walter Reuther, Hubert Humphrey, Harry Truman, Pat Brown — recognized broad-based economic growth was a necessary precursor to upward mobility and social justice. However, many in the new wave of progressives engage in fantastical economics built around such things as “urban density” and “green jobs,”  while adopting policies that restrict growth in manufacturing, energy and housing. When all else fails, some, like Oregon’s John Kitzhaber, try to change the topic by advocating shifting emphasis from measures of economic growth to “happiness.”