WSJ cites some cheerful statistics about the U.S. middle class, or what's left of it:
At the end of March, Americans had $6.1 trillion in equity in their houses—the value of the house minus mortgages—half the 2006 level, according to the Federal Reserve. ... [T]he net worth—household assets minus debts—of the middle fifth of American households grew by 2.4% a year between 2001 and 2007 and plunged by 26.2% in the following two years.
Since the private sector knows best, and since Proctor & Gamble is perhaps #1 at consumer marketing, then P&G's decision to exclude the middle class from its future marketing efforts is very telling. Wal-Mart and Target are losing customers while Dollar General stores are selling more food items than ever. Meanwhile, luxury retailers like Estee Lauder, Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Tiffany & Co. are going more high-end because only their rich customers have any money.
It turns out that bailed-out TBTF bank Citigroup has been preaching its "Consumer Hourglass Theory" to its investment clients since 2009.
Said Citigroup analyst Deborah Weinswig: "Companies have thought that if you're in the middle, you're safe. But that's not where the consumer is any more—the consumer hourglass is more pronounced now than ever."
That's not where the consumer is anymore. Chilling words, if you think about them.
By Ellen Byron
September 12, 2011 | Wall Street Journal
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