The topic liberals ignored too long. . .

Sam Smith - For several decades the nation's economic issues have fallen way down the liberal agenda, which helped in no small way to allow Donald Trump to falsely claim a concern for the working class. There are many reasons for this - the upward mobility of the liberal elite, fears created by the Reagan years, a massive collapse of labor unions who had helped keep the Democrats on course, and the Republican lite politics of the Clintons.

The first step to change this is to recognize some of the economic issues that haven't gotten enough attention. Here are some examples:

Millenials earning less than parents at their age

Record high student loan debt

Middle class losing ground in metro areas

Green Party of New Jersey  

In more than a third of counties, median income dropped 10% or more since 2000

Bernie Sanders - Today real median family income is almost $5,000 less than it was in 1999 in inflation accounted for dollars. Why is that? How does that happen? The typical male worker, that man right in the middle of the American economy, made $783 less last year than he did 42 years ago after adjusting for inflation...The typical female worker is making $1,337 less than she did in be 2007.

News Republic - In 1980, the typical young worker in Detroit or Flint, Michigan, earned more than his counterpart in San Francisco or San Jose. The states with the highest median income were Michigan, Wyoming, and Alaska. Nearly 80 percent of the Boomer generation, which at the time was between 18 and 35, was white, compared to 57 percent today. Three decades later... Michigan's median income for under-35 workers has fallen by 26 percent, more than any state. In fact, beyond the east coast, earnings for young workers fell in every state but Hawaii and South Dakota.

When President Obama took office in January 2009, 80,529,000 Americans were not in the labor force, the highest number on record. That number rose steadily during his two terms, reaching a record 95,055,000 in November 2016, then setting another record (95,102,000) in December.

Almost two thirds don't have $500 to pay for car repair

One in five young adults – ages 18 to 34 years old – live in poverty, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Up from one in seven (8.4 million people) in 1980.

Manufacturing workers need public assistance because of poor pay

According to the Fed, an astounding 47 percent of all Americans could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency room visit without borrowing it or selling something.

 The typical female worker made $1,337 less last year than she did in 2007.- Bernie Sanders

The minimum wage if it had gone up at the rate of Yale College tuition since 1970: $26

Among all employees nationally, 56 percent are hourly workers, and 32 percent of these, or more than 21 million, earn less than $10.10 per hour, according to University of Virginia researchers in the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service’s Demographics Research Group.

40% Of US workers now earn less than 1968 minimum wage 
 
Almost half of Americans die with less than $10 grand

Nearly seven out of ten Americans have less than $1000 in their savings account

Most Millennials Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings

Michael Snyder, Activist Post: According to a survey that was just released, 24 percent of all Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings.
 

Highest credit card debt since 1980s


Bernie Sanders - Student debt has surpassed credit card debt and is now the second-largest source of personal indebtedness.

Pensions & investments - More than half of all American households do not have enough put away for retirement, and the problem is getting worse, said new research from the Center for American Progress.