Following up on my last comment, iatrogenic would have you believe that first, the middle class is expanding, not shrinking, and second, if the middle class really is shrinking, it's exclusively the fault of too much liberal government.
I'm not going to defend liberal policies or even discuss everything from food stamps to social security here. I want instead to point out the function of government is to make and enforce law. That's true whether the government is far right, communist, socialist, or anywhere along the spectrum.
Politics is basically a competition to influence and control the governing apparatus. In the US, people mostly interpret this fight between liberals and conservatives. That's also the media interpretation. The bigger war that is largely unspoken is between corporatism and labor. The corporate interests won that battle a few decades past. For a while, all boats rose with the tide of corporate profits. Eventually, capital began moving production and even services from the US to newly open third world markets. Low interest rates made debt easier to finance and consumers in the US were able to substitute debt for stagnant income to maintain living standards. Meanwhile, the Democrat party joined the Republican Party in terms of backing corporations. The new left no longer represented labor, but instead championed social warriors (queers, race baiter, pro-abortion, etc.).
Finally debt has just about caught up to the consumer.
The government which has long ago been captured by corporatism has set the rules and enforces to their benefit. This is why the taxpayer backstops student loans; why hospitals don't have to post rates they charge for procedures and charge different prices for individuals who receive the same treatment.
Much of the current economic system is based on low interest rates, fraud, and collusion. If it were reformed now, the entire system would implode. Instead, the perversity continues at an ever accelerating rate. Military operations and hot spots now include the South China Sea, Africa. Syria, Yemen, Korea, the Baltics, and probably other places. Another trillion will be spent on nuclear upgrades. Health care costs continue rising and tuition rates go up. Leaders relax standards as the government has their back.
This is what Iatrogenic calls capitalism. It's nothing more than the latest model of fascism and it's where America currently stands.