Middle Class? Here's What's Destroying Your Future
According to the conventional account, the Great American Middle Class has been eroded by rising energy costs, globalization, and the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar in the four decades since 1973. While these trends have certainly undermined middle-class wealth and income, there are five other less politically acceptable dynamics at work:
1. The divergence of State/private vested interests and the interests of the middle class
2. The emergence of financialization as the key driver of profits and political power
3. The neofeudal colonization of the home market by ascendant financial Elites
4. The increasing burden of indirect taxes as productive enterprises and people involuntarily subsidize unproductive, parasitic, corrupt, but politically dominant vested interests
5. The emergence of crony capitalism as the lowest-risk, highest-profit business model in the U.S. economy
ZeroHedge.com
A couple of interesting points in this piece. Part II, some alleged solutions, is behind the wall.