In America, there are the super-elite represented by the very rich and the very powerful, though there is also represented in America a very significant underclass that will seemingly never get away from being that permanent underclass, in addition to a middle class that finds that as reported by pewglobal.org that it has contracted from 62% of the population in 1991 to 59% in 2010. Further to the point, in comparison to eleven other Western European nations, America while having the highest percentage of their adult population classified as upper income, also has the lowest percentage classified as middle income, while unfortunately also having the highest percentage classified as lower income, indicating that the disparity of incomes is far higher in America than all other Western European countries, in which such disparity is very troubling, considering that in aggregate America is the richest nation in the world and should therefore logically have the lowest percentage of lower income adults, which it most definitely does not.
One of the biggest changes in America, since 1991, is how much smaller the world has become, as business, in effect, has become globalized, which for certain mega-corporations in America, is good, because being able to successfully market and sell their products abroad, helps immensely the growth as well as the bottom line of these corporations. Unfortunately, the skew of income numbers, indicates, that this globalization, primarily benefits the few in America at the expense of the many. That is to say, when the production of goods can be done outside of the United States, for a cheaper overall price, than more goods will and are being manufactured overseas. Additionally, labor itself, is often utilized where it can be procured more cheaply, which means that labor has become more globalized, especially in consideration, that multi-national companies often have their footprints all over the globe, making it logical for such companies to employ workers from the countries that they do business in. All of this combined, means that the middle class is becoming squeezed in America, because jobs that once went to Americans, have been transferred overseas, to new emerging middle class people in countries such as China, in which those middle class people, buy as well as create and manufacture the goods that used to be manufactured domestically, which obviously helps the bottom line and growth of companies, but does little to help the lower and middle class people of the United States.
This means that the type of progressive thinking, made, by example, Henry Ford back over 100 years ago, in which Mr. Ford more than doubled the average daily factory wage for his auto workers, leading to the inception of the industrial middle class, while improving both productivity as well as sales, has been replaced by the rather simplistic mathematical formula, which is if it can be built cheaper overseas, and/or if employees are willing to work at lower wages, than by all means, do that. In fact, that is exactly what so many multi-national companies have done, so that those in the cat bird's seat are making money hand over fist, whereas those in the middle class, find that they are more and more competing not against fellow Americans, but global employees, in which Americans historically have been fortunate to command a premium for their labor services over the years, based on their knowhow, technology, location, knowledge, productivity, and efficiency, but have seen that come under assault more and more by the globalization of labor and manufacturing, leading to lack of the necessity of a vibrant middle class in America, because there is more profit to be made by closing up domestic shop and leaving them behind.