The American middle class is sinking. That's a fact. People in their 30s now earn far less compared to their parents' generation. In truth, this is not surprising. High wages in manufacturing for unionized low-skilled workers with a high-school education depend on the (international) prolonged success of those industries; now that the manufacturing sector is tanking, many are without jobs. All of this is nothing new.

Essentially, this is comparable to the kind of socialism practiced in the former USSR: market conditions be damned, workers will get a high wages. The only difference here, of course, is what you call it. Note that I have no problem at all with guaranteeing a realistic standard of living for workers; in a town like Austin, for example, a 4-member family needs at least $40,000 to make a decent living.

The only thing I find ridiculous about all of this is that politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, pander to this base of disenchanted white middle class voters, and make all kinds of proposal that look very much like the kind of pro-worker socialism they eschew.