"Latest index: The national average wage index for 2010 is $41,673.83." http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html
So, let's get this straight: Government continues to grow massively and the middle class continues to shrink massively, lol. Why do most of the uneducated think that big government is bad for the ultra rich and good for the middle class? Big government is good for the ultra rich, they are buddies with the government reps, they get all the big government contracts, they have their lobbyists write all the regulations to restrict competition from up and coming companies, and the middle and upper middle class always take it on the chin so big government can help out their buddies, the ultra rich. Of course they throw a few scraps to the poor. And of course this is the evidence of history. Even in Soviet Russia, there was larger inequiality in practice than there was in the semi-capitalist USA. This is the FACT. The ruling elite in Soviet Russia lived in mansions, controlled every aspect of the lives of their subjects, and this was an almost complete command and control economy "for the people." Even "factor managers" had far higher incomes relative to their laborers than the same level of management in the USA. Statistics are tough to come by, but from studies i've seen it was something like 50 to 1, the relative wages of factory managers (read: friends and relatives of the ruling elite) to their workers, while in the USA it was more like 25 to 1 at max.