What's happened to America's middle class?

"Baby boomers like me grew up in a relatively equal society. In the 1960's, America was a place in which few people were extremely wealthy, many blue collar workers earned wages that placed them comfortably in the middle class, and working families could expect steadily rising living standards and a reasonable degree of economic security. That middle class society no longer exists. Working families have seen little if any progress over the past 30 years in average income. And economic security is a thing of the past: all it takes is a little bit of bad luck in employment or health to plunge a family into poverty. But the wealthy have done very well indeed. Since 1980 in particular, U.S. government policies have favored the weathy at the expense of working families, from tax cuts to bankruptcy 'reform.' The reason for concern is that a society in which most people can be considered middle class is a better society -- and more likely to be a functioning democracy -- than one in which there are great extremes of wealth and poverty. Reversing the rise in inequality and economic security won't be easy, but let's try to do something about the politics of greed."

-- Paul Krugman, 6/10/2005