There are places in this country where I can live with my family of 5 on a meager salary and do just fine.  If I budget properly, save, get the right amount of insurance - and stay away from the consumerism and greed.  How many people needed a cell phone 15 years ago?  How many people needed two cars 30 years ago?  How many people need smart phones, high speed Internet, to see every movie released?  We have a very poor idea of need vs. want around here.  Properly budgeted, fiscally conservative, debt abhorring, credit card hating (and probably boring) Americans are not falling behind in the middle class.  Our idea of what it means to be the middle class is outpacing where we are financially.

For example, did you know that average median household income is up 10% since 1980?  It was actually up almost 20% by the year 2000, but then the dot com and latest recession pretty much wiped those out.  In fact, inflation adjusted median household income has increased pretty much every year since 1945.  The charts the media is plastering everywhere?  That is the percentage of wealth, the distribution of it.  So the rich have more money that they did 30 years ago.  So do the middle class, just mess less more.  

But why is this a factor?  If the household income of everyone in America was a secret, and all you knew was that you were probably making more money today, even considering inflation, than your parents at this point in their life, would you be upset?  Would you be demanding the rich pay more taxes?  Also, your tax rates since 1980 has gone down as well.  Not only do you make more, you keep more in your pocket.  

But the US Government takes in much more money today than it did in 1980.  Not as a percentage of GDP, but what, really, does this matter?  The country is doing very well so obviously it costs more to run our government?  Does anyone really believe this?  Now I am not talking about population growth.  There is little correlation between pure population growth and economic growth, read up and see for yourself.  No, there is more money available via receipts that CAN be spent and as any historical graph of government spending will show you, we have spent more than we earn every year (save a maybe 6) in the past 70 years.  That money goes towards many different things, some good and some not so good. 

As it has been said, it doesn't matter how much you make, it matters how much you spend and what you have left over.  If you spend too much, you aren't wealthy.  No matter how much money you make.  The real economic crisis this country faces is simple family and personal budgeting and a realization of want vs. need.  

Which leads into my next topic: Is healthcare a want or a need?  What about shelter, food, transportation, a job and death/retirement benefits?