Back in the ’40s 50s and 60s the USA was temporarily known for its MASSIVE middle class. Annual earnings of $5,000 was common, to $10,000 per year you were well off. Everybody and their uncle these days knows the middle class gradually got a lot smaller after 1975.
I know of many ex-middle class baby boomers in their 60s these days that don’t have a pot to piss in. They stopped paying their mortgages long ago. In the NY area today, middle class needs $175,000 to $200,000 before taxes. We have unionized village and county cops making $175,000 to $200,000 plus generous benefits.
Regular working class people these days in my area make $50,000 each, a working couple makes $100,000 as per a real estate broker friend. The tax absorbers make more money than the tax payers. There lies the problem, that Trump and company are trying to fix. Higher wages.
Its going to take YEARS for higher non union wages at this pace. The gov’t itself in 1967 used to be the “union” rep for the non union workers, by demanding employers pay a livable taxable wage of $1.40/hr equal to $26/hr today. (which is the average wage today)