[discostu]

If I had a dollar for everytime I've heard some dipstick claim the middle class is disappearing I wouldn't be in the middle class anymore.

This line has been paranoid idiocy for 40 years, it's a fallback column for doomcriers that can't think of anything else this month.

[FITZ]

If you notice ---the argument on this thread isn't about it going away or not ---many people think the middle class isn't needed at all. They're fine with having no middle class, they believe the venture capitalists can just keep things going.

[tortoise]

If I had a dollar for everytime I've heard some dipstick claim the middle class is disappearing I wouldn't be in the middle class anymore.

Yeah, I wonder about those figures. Does that mean that the European "middle-class" lives in poverty? In many of the major economies of Europe, the average person makes $8-10k less than the average American. I think it is much ado about nothing. As long as the inflation adjusted average increases (no matter how slowly), we're doing okay and a hell of a lot better than most other industrialized nations.