[wbill]

Ditto to both of your posts. As the middle class gets squeezed, the stores that cater to them (JCP, Sears, pretty much any mall, etc) will go smash. Maybe a few will be left after the shakeout, that's all.

Speaking for myself, I'm (currently) entrenched solidly in the middle class. If you had told me 20 years ago what my salary would be today, I'd have replied, "Well, probably. I have a college degree, I'm a hard worker, etc etc etc".

However, if you had told me 20 years ago what my salary would be today AND that I'd be clipping coupons, skipping vacations and cutting every corner that I can find just to stay afloat..... I'd have said that you were crazy.

[Obadiah]

Oh gosh. Nailed it.

[ExTxMarine]

However, if you had told me 20 years ago what my salary would be today AND that I'd be clipping coupons, skipping vacations and cutting every corner that I can find just to stay afloat..... I'd have said that you were crazy.

That pretty much sums up the current middle-class in America. I am pretty well ensconced in the middle-class as well, I am having to experience the same cost-cutting measures, etc... In America, the middle-class shouldn't HAVE TO KNOW which restaurants offer free or low-price meals for children after 4PM, etc... This is a STAPLE in America today and that is a sad state of affairs.

This reminds me of most of the lower-middle-class/upper-poor-class Americans in the late 1970's! I remember my family sitting around the TV putting together power-strips and other gadgets which were shipped to us as parts and returned as a completed product for PENNYS! This money was not an "option" it was needed just to keep the lights and gas on! Obama and the liberals consider this to be PROGRESS? They think THIS is a successful economic recovery? Jimmy Carter's economic prowess on full display!