Here's a quick analysis of what happened to the U.S. economy during the Recession: Everyone pretty much remained as they were before, except the lower middle class got hollowed out. I'd say probably 35 to 45 percent of Americans fit in this category in the year 2004. Poor Americans got poorer, but things didn't become that much worse for them (not to say things were good for them before). The real change was in the middle class, or to be more specifically accurate the lower middle class. Why did the lower class suffer so much? Two reasons. The middle class is expensive, from an employer's point of view. And the jobs they tend to do generally are not considered to be as important, or at least valued monetarily. So when costs need to be cut, it's these workers that are going to be the first to have pay cuts or be let go. This was also true for many small business owners, the services they were offering to the economy were expensive luxuries. They couldn't stay afloat after consumer spending went down across the economy, particularly since most of their customers were middle class, many under financial strain themselves. An excellent way to illustrate what happened, funny as it may sound, is looking at Walmart sales. There was a provocative article that came out a few years ago titled Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class. And a surprising thing people might not realize, Walmart sales apparently accounted for 2.2% of the total U.S. GDP in 2011. (Pretty sad that that big of a chunk of the GDP is composed of shopping at Walmart, but that's just my two cents) Guess which category the majority of people in rural areas fit into. (Or at least the majority of them fit into before 2007)
very simple, liberal unions, taxes ,regulations, deficits and trade deals drove their jobs offshore. Further, the liberal attack on the families, schools and religions of America rendered many unfit for a working life.
Here's another article to read: The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class It talks about how America is no longer a middle class country, and is transitioning to be more like other countries around the world—you know, those non-white non-English speaking countries, that aren't in Western Europe either.
