Iowa is doing the right thing to strengthen our middle class after the devastation of the national recession.
One of the reasons Iowa has weathered the economic downturn better than other states is that we’ve kept our fiscal house in order. Each year, we balance the state budget and set aside money for a rainy day. According to 24/7 Wall St., Iowa is one of the best-run states in the nation, with low debt, a strong credit rating and a well-managed budget.
That’s important because it allows us to invest in initiatives to strengthen our middle class, create jobs and grow our economy. And the latest financial projections by Iowa’s non-partisan Revenue Estimating Conference confirm that Iowa can afford new investments.
We must do all we can to continue strengthening our middle class. The percentage of middle-class households shrunk between 2000 and 2013 in all 50 states, Iowa included. In 2013, 51 percent of Iowa households were middle class, down from 54.1 percent in 2000, and the median income for Iowa households has dropped, according to new research from Pew.
What can we do to continue our bipartisan efforts to expand Iowa’s middle class in all 99 counties?
A good start would be renewing Iowa’s traditional, bipartisan support for public schools, freezing tuition at our public universities for a third year in a row, and investing more in community college opportunities for Iowans preparing for 21st Century jobs.