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Do we even trust our leaders to help?
Retiring old ideas about retirement
Social Security more solvent than most Americans realize
Focus group participants discuss retirement
Series looks at middle-class angst
Insurance misery has no easy cure
Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Man allegedly paid teens to spit in his face
Angel Food Ministries helps stretch grocery dollars
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 13-47
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Indiana Pacers – Here’s to LBJ and Free Throws
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Bowling season starts today
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Federal Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Published on Sunday, Mar 16, 2008
Today's story about a middle-class family is unusual for us. We don't name the family.
The reason?
As we began last October to research the struggling middle class, one thing was eminently clear: Lots of people in our community are feeling the same pressures, but they are — understandably — reluctant to expose their concerns so candidly.
This family, by agreeing to completely bare its financial life, in some ways is able to be more real.
Today's installment is the first of several that will run this year as we consider education, housing, jobs, health care and the overall future for the middle class. In some cases, the subjects of the stories have agreed to be named, but not always.
This project is an outgrowth of a study by David Knox, the Beacon Journal's specialist in computer research. In 2007, he participated in a Kiplinger Fellowship at Ohio State University, where he used the horsepower of university computers to analyze 51 million records spanning five decades of Census Bureau data, prepared by the University of Minnesota's Population Center. In September 2007, the Beacon Journal published his findings, showing that successive generations of Americans are earning less than their parents.
The Web version of the story included an interactive database, allowing readers to compare their own income with national statistics. That project is available at http://www.ohio.com/hottopic/10675396.html.
After publication of that project, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in focus groups, which were held in late October. The purpose was to listen to citizens discuss how they related to the trends in Knox's finding.
The seven sessions were facilitated by Alice Rodgers of Jemez Pueblo, N.M. Formerly a resident of Stark County, she has facilitated many discussions for the newspaper over 25 years, including the Beacon Journal's examination of race relations in 1993, which resulted in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Out of those focus groups arose the several topics that will be examined before the 2008 presidential election.
Knox and Beacon Journal columnist David Giffels are the reporters on this project. Photographer Ed Suba Jr. and artist Deborah Kauffman Barry prepared the photos, illustrations and graphics for today's installment.
— The editors
Today's story about a middle-class family is unusual for us. We don't name the family.
The reason?
Middle class hanging by thread as rich get richer, poor get poorer
Meet the family: Census data form American portrait
Today's story about a middle-class family is unusual for us
The very things that define the middle class slipping out of reach for many Ohioans
Story behind the story: five decades of data
Speaking of... Voices from The American Dream series
Median annual pay in the U.S. over the decades (pdf)
As we began last October to research the struggling middle class, one thing was eminently clear: Lots of people in our community are feeling the same pressures, but they are — understandably — reluctant to expose their concerns so candidly.
This family, by agreeing to completely bare its financial life, in some ways is able to be more real.
Today's installment is the first of several that will run this year as we consider education, housing, jobs, health care and the overall future for the middle class. In some cases, the subjects of the stories have agreed to be named, but not always.
This project is an outgrowth of a study by David Knox, the Beacon Journal's specialist in computer research. In 2007, he participated in a Kiplinger Fellowship at Ohio State University, where he used the horsepower of university computers to analyze 51 million records spanning five decades of Census Bureau data, prepared by the University of Minnesota's Population Center. In September 2007, the Beacon Journal published his findings, showing that successive generations of Americans are earning less than their parents.
The Web version of the story included an interactive database, allowing readers to compare their own income with national statistics. That project is available at http://www.ohio.com/hottopic/10675396.html.
After publication of that project, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in focus groups, which were held in late October. The purpose was to listen to citizens discuss how they related to the trends in Knox's finding.
The seven sessions were facilitated by Alice Rodgers of Jemez Pueblo, N.M. Formerly a resident of Stark County, she has facilitated many discussions for the newspaper over 25 years, including the Beacon Journal's examination of race relations in 1993, which resulted in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Out of those focus groups arose the several topics that will be examined before the 2008 presidential election.
Knox and Beacon Journal columnist David Giffels are the reporters on this project. Photographer Ed Suba Jr. and artist Deborah Kauffman Barry prepared the photos, illustrations and graphics for today's installment.
— The editors
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