If you want to know the effects of heavy-handed government with a tax and spend philosophy look at the middle class of a city and the extremes of income in that city.
I will take New York City as my example, but it can be any large U.S. city that is reasonably well run and not on the edge of financial and moral bankruptcy as some are.
There are the very rich small minority, possibly athletes. There are the very poor, usually on welfare and Medicaid. Then there are “The Struggling."
These are often entrepreneurs, shopkeepers and self-employed, along with small pensioners. trying to make ends meet, in the face of huge taxes and high living costs.
The true middle class are the civil service and teachers, transit workers, sanitation workers and other strong union members. They are the ones who control politicians and the votes. They are the ones with salaries that are much higher than those that prevail in private industry. And those with enormous retirement benefits the amounts of which are often hidden from the rest of the city taxpayers. Retirement benefits of city workers often are city budget-busters.
They are the middle class.
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