"all of the above"

[HiPointDem]

5. you don't really need the middle class these days. just the top 20%. cause that's who has the $.

According to new research from Moody’s Analytics, the top 5% of Americans by income account for 37% of all consumer outlays...By contrast, the bottom 80% by income account for 39.5% of all consumer outlays.

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2010/08/05/us-economy-is-increasingly-tied-to-the-rich/

which means that the top 20% = 60% of all consumer spending.


furthermore, most economies historically had a large class of poor, a small elite, and a somewhat larger class that served the elite.

which mirrors our present situation in large degree. 1% = elite, upper middle class = their servants, courtiers, enablers - the buffer class.

the rest of us = workers and "threat" to workers, i.e. if you don't mind your ps and qs and keep working you'll be homeless, live in a ghetto, wind up on jerry springer, etc.

if the top 20% got 80% of the cash, they'd do 80% of the consumer spending. there is no particular reason a middle class is needed, except that it maintains the illusion of democracy.

but other control methods can be devised to substitute for the illusion of democracy.