Events Calendar
In This Section
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
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Family is proud of late son's gift
Man shot in back near Akron park
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Varejao's $50 million deal isn't really $50 million
FBI asked to investigate attack on white family near Firestone Park
Woman, 75, charged with beating fawn to death
Blogs:
Pets:
Zeke, the basketball playing dog
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Dwayne Wade says no to Cleveland
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Kent State
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Now is no time to quit
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Baby Got Barack !
Blog of Mass Destruction:
As California Goes?
Akron Law Café:
Why do public officials violate Ohio Ethics Laws?
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
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
Comments
Click here to post your comments
