Monday, September 12, 2011

The Middle Class Is Dead

The Middle Class Is Dead:


The Middle Class Is Dead

Historians tell us that the United States of America once boasted a fabled "middle" class of residents. They were not too poor; they were not too rich; they were just right. Crazy—but allegedly true.

That all seems so distant now. The socioeconomic distribution-of-wealth curve has gone from being a smooth one-hump camel to a gnarled two-hump camel. The idea that the bulk of the benefits of our nation's political and economic policies should go to a large group, rather than a small group, is distinctly foreign now. Why did we ever think that would work? I can't remember.

The mushy middle is boring. Unambitious. Non-trepreneurial. Downright unAmerican. America is about extremes—of ideology, of policy, of class. By catering to the extremities, we can starve the middle of its sustenance, and watch it disappear. The middle class is America's belly fat. Get