CrossTalk: Fall From Middle Class

Are we witnessing the downward mobility of the middle class of the rich developed countries? People are falling out of the middle class because they've lost their jobs, and many have also lost their homes. Almost one in three families with a mortgage is now "underwater, holding their breath against imminent foreclosure. 

The percentage of those in poverty in the US is its highest in two decades, and more of us are impoverished than at any time in the past 50 years. The prospects for the middle class in the EU-euro are equally grim. Thus, are we seeing the end of one of the most important institutions of western style societies -- the role of the middle class?