American Middle Class No Longer on Top

Income inequality has been a hot agenda item recently, as I've noted before, and yesterday's New York Times inserted a study into the discussion that reveals the way in which the middle class in the U.S. has fallen behind middle classes in other rich countries.

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.
While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.
After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.

What happened in Canada, eh? The NYTimes piece has some insights, but so did Stephen Colbert--"All Canada has is universal health care, subsidized child care, and higher taxes on the rich." Of course, his answer for regaining America's place as having the richest middle class is...even lower taxes on the rich.