Why is the wingnut cabal shrinking the middle class instead of growing it?

A middle class, when mishandled, can be a powerful and fearsome thing, as the rulers of Iran and Russia are discovering. Both regimes are now teetering on the edge of collapse because of popular uprisings that would not have happened without a middle-class in each country.

People paralyzed by grinding poverty rarely revolt — it takes a lot to produce “barrio uprisings” — because their lives are consumed with day-to-day survival issues.

But when people are prosperous enough that they’ve left behind the most severe economic insecurity — believing they’ll always find another home, job, or can get into another university — they begin to demand a responsive government and will rise in protest when it fails to meet their demands.

Wingnuts have been warning about this since the 1950s, although not in the way you may think.

Why is the wingnut cabal shrinking the middle class instead of growing it?