I believe that most of us think of the United States of America as being an enormous middle class family. Yes, there is a very high percentage of very wealthy people, a larger percentage of the population than has ever been the case. On the other hand, we have always had a certain percentage of our people who are living in dire poverty. Although the numbers are high, it is also true that for most of them poverty in America was a reflection of the agonizing difficulties that Hispanics and blacks have had to face because of the sad and unjust economic history of this country.

There was always the middle class. That is us! We don’t rub shoulders with the very rich but our homes for the most part are air-conditioned. We frequently have roast beef on Sunday. May God bless the middle class, the solid infrastructure of the world’s greatest economy and the world’s most successful democracy. We have got it, we depend on it, we thank God for it.

Will we always have it?

The other week, the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. released highlights of the research on the middle class. It is discouraging and to me even frightening.

The middle class is receiving less of America’s total income declining to its smallest share in decades as median wages stagnate in the economic doldrums and wealth concentrates at the top as the study documents. The study describes that the middle tier of American families are suffering the worst decade in modern history and have fallen backwards in income for the first time since before World War II. Eighty-five percent of middle class Americans say life is more difficult now than a decade ago in their efforts to maintain their standard of living. Why is this happening?

In the case of any complex situation, there are many reasons. The economic collapse of 2008 for more than any other reason was generated by the selfish, blind greed of the financial world who lied and cheated. The middle class lost billions of dollars in value in their homes. Their taxes then paid to bail out the banks who have gone forward quite well. The middle class has not!

Who will speak for the middle class? Who will represent them in the state capitals and in Washington, D.C.? Throughout the 20th century, the unions did a great job in urging and helping workers to aggressively work to fight for their share of the pie. However, union membership today is less than 10% and going down.

What about the churches? During the 20th century, church leaders and clergy were frequently out speaking for, arguing for and helping middle class people to protect their interests but you don’t see much of that today. The middle class is struggling, lacks a clear voice and has very little confidence in giving their children a better tomorrow than they had received from their parents.

The demographics are sad and even frightening but they are there in front of us for all to see. The massive wealth continues to move to the top. Whether or not it is 1% or 6% is not important but represents a tragic imbalance in distribution of the nation’s resources. The middle class grows smaller and smaller. It is not because their members are disappearing. It is simply that they are dropping down the ladder and joining the ranks of the acutely poor. So the poverty component of the country expands dramatically and tragically.

This has happened before in history often with dire results!

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Our Lord Jesus rightly said that the poor would always be with us. I have always accepted that and many of us have tried to mitigate the suffering that the poor endure. However, beginning in the ‘80’s, even the middle class began to fall back in terms of economic progress. That would really be sad if it were just a question of not keeping up with the higher tiers in our economic system but, in point of fact, the middle class is being systematically pushed down the economic ladder in this country.

Time after time, the Supreme Court over the last five or six years has come down with decisions that are very detrimental to the economic well-being of middle America. The Republican Party has definitely staked out a position and tends to balance the budget, and that is a needed goal, but they are doing it upon the backs of the poor and the vulnerable while they increase the wealth of the top 10%. The Tea Party is a measurable force in American political life and I have yet to ever hear a representative of that group to say a word on the needs of the poor and the vulnerable in our society. The biggest single problem in the life of the United States right now is the agonizing reality of unemployment. It is not just the 9.5% who are without jobs but it is that amount again who are underemployed or part-time.

In the face of that agony, there is not one powerful voice challenging the country to confront this problem. The Democratic Party’s main concern is to stay viable and the union bias in this country has decimated the union movement with the exception of the government employees unions and all across the country efforts are being made to gut them in the state legislatures.

Much of the middle class has been tricked into making their primary concern several of the social issues that divide this country. Blue collar workers have every right to be concerned about important issues, such as abortion and same sex marriages, but they should not allow that to confuse them about the need to work together with natural allies and protect the well-being of their families.

The Jewish community has a magnificent record of commitment to social justice in our society. To know the mindset of that community, all you have to do is look at the votes of Jewish members on the Supreme Court. They are always right but also almost always lose.

Then there is the Catholic Church. For a hundred years, between 1865 and 1985, the Catholic Church was a stalwart defender of working people and most especially poor people. However, what is the Church doing today to challenge America to deal with the unemployment problem? What is the Church doing today to speak out on behalf of the weak and the vulnerable? Very little if the truth were known.

Fifty years ago, a natural coalition brought together the Democratic Party, the labor unions, Jewish and Catholic communities, and individuals marked by a commitment to justice. That coalition stood together for the best part of a century. There is really a pressing need to bring it back into existence. I don’t think it is impossible but somebody has to lead.

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Over the last few months as unrest and rebellion have swept large portions of the Muslim world. The most frequently voiced complaint by the unhappy citizens was the lack of freedom. However, just beneath the volume generated by that complaint was the concern about the distorted economy that allowed the ruling and dictatorial families to amass vast quantities of wealth while the “trickle down” system, so often touted in the United States, has failed to materialize.

Many of us, as we watch the evening news describe the conflict and turmoil in these countries, have found ourselves instinctively sympathizing with hard working citizens whose leaders not only deny them political freedom and political choices, but fail to share the wealth generated in these consistently wealthy countries. I think most of us would share that view.

I wonder if there were many citizens in the United States who were shocked to hear that the dangerous massing of wealth in the hands of a small minority is very much descriptive of the economic reality in the United States of America today! The current issue of Vanity Fair, a magazine I have come to appreciate more and more of late, has a startlingly article entitled, “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%.” In a very detailed article, the author, Joseph Stiglitz, a 2001 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, lays out some really frightening facts. For example, the upper 1% of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth, rather than income, the top 1% control 40% of the wealth. This figure has represented a dramatic change from a quarter of a century ago.

While there has been a massive movement of wealth and money to this tiny 1% of our population, there has been a serious and steady decline of the income of the middle class. What does this bode for the future?

Stiglitz quotes Tocqueville, following his visit here in the early part of the 19th century, in which he sited a peculiar genius of American society that he called, “self-interest properly understood.” Tocqueville considered this the mark of American pragmatism. Those canny Americans understood a basic fact. Looking out for the other guy isn’t just good for the soul but it is good for business.

Let me quote Stiglitz’s last sentence. The top 1% have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99% live. Throughout history this is something that the top 1% eventually do learn. Too late.

In my opinion, thoughtful Americans ought to be very concerned about this terrible imbalance that already exists and is growing worse each year. When that is blended with the reality that money is an ever greater influence on our political system, as manifested by the Supreme Court decision last year that giant corporations are in no way to be hindered from exercising their rights of “free speech” by spending any amount they choose on elections.

Wow!

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