Brooks and the whittling away of the middle-class.

Brooks,

The "former" class of which you speak is indeed facing an economic reality that could lead to its extinction. Of course, in a country that continues to see the gap widen between its richest and poorest members how could it be otherwise?

Any 'democracy' where 10% of the population controls 70%+ of the national wealth (with the top 1% controlling 40%) while its poorest 40% control less than 1% of the national wealth is doomed to see its center, its core, its middle, succumb to a fate that is less than kind.

As long as the rules that allow for this perverse concentration of wealth remain unchecked then 'staying-middle-class' will continue its downward trend. With the "American Dream" becoming too rich for most. A mirage.

Those seeking to preserve the currently flawed stock-market and offshore trading system under the guise that capital investment in innovation must be protected at all costs have no interest in altering the status-quo to help the middle-class. Their only interest is in preserving the elite's privileged position. Nothing will change until new oversight mechanisms are introduced that will prod American investors to look first to the needs of the domestic economy rather than allow them to move their profits offshore.