Stephanie Coontz Quotes

The American dream always meant that anybody willing to put in a hard day's work could make a decent living. That's just not true anymore for people without at least some post-high school education.

If you work, you should not be poor.

Poverty is poverty. At the end of the day, people want a job.

One of the strengths of our nation has always been a strong middle class who could afford their own homes and send their children to school.

I'm worried about that man or woman sitting around - the coffee table tonight or in their kitchen talking about how are we going to get to work. How are we going to have the dignity to take care of our family.

I believe a solid, really strong middle-class is the key to making the country in the best way.

We need to make sure middle-class people are able to pay the bills. We need to make sure that poor people don't starve. Those are values, too.

I've always believed the two best anti-poverty programs are work and marriage.

If you want to know what the biggest thing in your way to an improved standard of living, higher pay, a more rewarding career is: Barack Obama and the Democrat Party and their economic policies. They are the roadblock.

It's very interesting, if you look at a study that was done by the Brookings Institute back in 2009, they determined that if Americans do three things, they can avoid poverty. Three things. Work, graduate from high school, and get married before you have children.

In order to invest in our future, we must ensure that we appropriately protect programs that provide skills, services, and education for middle-class Americans rather than providing tax breaks for large corporations.

I think you're only free if you're working on very low or huge money.

Young people deserve stable employment opportunities and not mountains of debt. When young people can access the middle class, America is strengthened.

I got alright GCSEs, but I was lost. I didn't know what to do, whether to continue with education, go to uni, go to art school - then again, I was like, 'Maybe I should just go and get a job, start early and make money.'

We cannot run a democracy without a strong middle class.

We must moderate both opulence and indigence by raising the wages of the poor, improving their habits, and lifting them above ignorance, plunder, and theft.

For the first time in America's history, poverty is on the run.

You cannot have a strong, resilient economy unless you have a strong resilient middle class.

I want to give people a basic income, so that if you're working hard, doing the best you can, that you can not just survive, but you can have a decent life.

The key to a vibrant middle class is an abundance of jobs that pay enough so that workers can provide for themselves and their families, enjoy leisure time, save for retirement and pay for their children's education so they can grow up and earn even more than their parents.

The truth is the middle class is not only stagnant but it is my fear that, without sustained and focused action, it is at risk of disappearing.

Our children and grandchildren are not going to have the same standard of living unless we educate that workforce.

The best route out of poverty, to avoid food bank usage, is to make sure more people get a job.

Middle class jobs prevent crime and violence.

Three things are very important to Hispanics: being able to have a job, making sure your child gets an education that prepares them to get a job, and living in a safe community.