well.... the middle class shrinks, and is more noticeable today because of the megachain multinationals who have an excessive buying power from companies to get better rates and discounts....and my favorite... the rebate for exceeding sales targets... the old mom and pop businesses simply cannot compete with that kind of system that rewards the big companies while continuing to put pressure on the little guys to sell for cost or below cost to compete... a lot of people think it's just happening in reatail. It's everywhere though... dental chains, funeral home chains, homebuilders who have grown so massive that their CPF(cost per Sq. ft.) to build a home is around 1/10th that of local builders...etc.... i could name close to probably 100 professions that used to be the backbone of the middle class that has come under fire from mega corporations... one of the first to go by the wayside was the local butcher shops back in the early 70's...supermarkets all but done them in...

  If you really wanted to bring back the middle class you would make a law that no company may have more than 50 employees, anything more than fifty employees you must pay a 500% tax on sales.... or some equivalent to that effect....it would eliminate big box companies overnight, it would also create jobs.... as weird as it sounds, but it would..