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.
Industrialized??? A lot of people would say being industrialized is not important at all ----industrialization led us to being a middle class wealthy nation.