The saying used to be that many think they are Temporarily Embarrassed Millionaires, but I think at this point it's fair to say that many people think they are middle class when in fact, the middle class has been swept from underneath them and they are now more or less comfortably-poor. Public services, housing affordability, food availability, product quality, fair pay and benefits. Previously middle class people are struggling to mesh it all together into a middle-class life, the money isn't there and the availability and quality of products and services isn't there either.

I think that in order to protect it's ability to offer a first world living by it's communities, the US needs to fatten up it's middle class with better wages. There could be a number of ways to do that, but the basic goal is to get more money into the hands of the average American so they can spend it in the community and make the whole country better.