NYT 2009 American workers are overpaid. Gap must close. Happening now. Thanks, Obama.

[JDPriestly]

108. You are saying that the middle class was an anomaly.

No. The middle class is the product and the engine of democracy. It is not an anomaly. And Americans will struggle to keep a middle class that is prosperous and healthy as should every country in the world.

And here is where the pro-TPPers and we know who they are -- a tiny minority on DU -- show their true colors as anti-American, anti-middle-class and pro-oligarchy. The pro-TPPers -- and it is very clear from the responses to my post about protecting and improving the standard of living in the US --- are essentially sell-outs to the oligarchs. Only the oligarchs will, in the end, profit from these trade agreements. The oligarchs have sufficient assets and money to be able to shift investments from one part of the world to another, creating, building, destroying and devastating countries and peoples as they wish.

The middle class rose as democracy rose. The death of the middle class in America -- which is what you appear to be predicting and for which you appear to advocate -- is the final blow to our democracy.

The middle class, the leisure and prosperity and education that a healthy middle class requires are what make democracy work. Only a healthy middle class that is not grubbing for a living can read news, make informed decisions and participate in the political life necessary to keep democracy (and peace) going. American workers since the end of the 19th century have gradually improved their standard of living and formed the core of our middle class. Our middle class is not the monied bourgeoisie that Marx castigated but rather a working class that is prosperous and lives well.

The Occupy movement revealed an interesting fact. Already, today, many Americans cannot afford to meet to discuss public issues in any location other than on public property. That is a very sad fact about our middle class. Many of us can no longer afford to meet even in public halls because the rents are too high. That in itself demonstrates what happens to democracy when the middle class is impoverished and the poor homeless.

If you went to some of the Occupy sites, you would realize that they attracted homeless people and not just middle class people camping out.

When I was a child, people who are today homeless could find housing on farms and work in the fields in a pinch. Today that is not possible. So poverty is even more difficult to bear than it was say 60 years ago.

I am shocked as I think most Americans would be at your blatant and bizarre attitude toward American middle class life. I do not believe that you live in the US.

African-Americans are bitter and rightfully so in part because that inclusion in the American middle class has been denied them.

Your post is an admission that the TPP is anti-American because the American dream, the middle class life is what Americans believe in and what is central to our democracy.

I have difficulty believing that you and Hoyt are Americans. Your post does not reflect the American value of hard work being rewarded with a good, solid middle class life. I am frankly shocked by your honest contempt for American values.

It indicates clearly what the purpose of the TPP is and what the purposes are of those pushing it.