Why has income inequality grown so explosively over the past 30 years? Why do so many working and middle class voters cast their ballots for a party that's so obviously a captive of corporations and the rich? Why is there no longer any real sustained effort to improve the lot of the middle class?and answers.
The fortunes of what we used to call "the middle class" rose and fell with trade unions and the fact that World War II provided a wide open manufacturing market for American goods. Once the rest of the world started to catch up, and more to the point, when we started to import more than we exported, the game was up.
I'd also say that most middle class people today are actually struggling elites - over-educated, white collar, strugglers. The working classes that once swelled the ranks of the middle, are fading back into the lower end, buoyed only by Wal-Mart discounting.
