There is no “official” definition of what constitutes the “middle class.” But a widely accepted view is roughly those households whose annual income is about two-thirds to double the national median income, adjusted for family size and local cost of living.

Fifty years ago, households like these totaled 62% of the nation’s income; half-century later it is 42%. Just as telling, the “middle class” head count has shrunk as well, constituting 61% of adults in 1971; today, it’s 51%.

What was once a clear majority will soon be, if not already, a shrinking minority. Indeed, income distribution in America used to be largest around the middle but now it’s growing fastest at the top and bottom, like an economic hour glass. (RELATED: Why Are So Many Americans Losing Faith In America?)

One example would be the CEO-to-worker pay ratio in major U.S. companies. In 1989 it stood at 60-1; by 2024 it was a staggering 281-1. Are we really to believe these folks are contributing that much more to our standard of living than they did 35 years ago?

Now far be it from me to blame capitalism when in fact crony capitalism is the root of the problem. Defenders of free enterprise better soon acknowledge that is what’s driving the widest income gap in a century before the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) “storm the Bastille.”

Whether we’ve actually entered another Gilded Age is unclear; what is clear is that history tells us a hollowed out middle class is not politically sustainable. Despite how many insouciant buffoons like Ben Shapiro tell the jobless just “learn to code.” (RELATED: Code Red: The Huge Warning Signs Buried In America’s Economic Numbers)

Which, naturally, fails to address the real issue — a crippling devaluation of the dollar. From the Great Recession bailouts of 2007 to COVID inflationary ‘stimulus’ to a costly war in Iran that threatens the last thing propping up American profligacy — the petrodollar.

Despite Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s desperate attempt at suppressing long-term interest rates, the “vigilantes” are back. The so-called bond rout is sending an explicit warning about the risk of holding U.S. debt. In other words, trying to pay back creditors with devalued dollars can’t go on forever.

And as if a drastic decline in purchasing power wasn’t bad enough for American workers, the uniparty elites threw in an open........

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