The American middle class has been so thoroughly ravaged by the American oligarchs over the last 30 years they aren’t pulling their pants up any more — they’re just leaving them bunched around the ankles. Certainly since the dawn of Dubya. I don’t know when the term “the American dream” began to sound fairly laughable but the fix has been in for so long that it looks like up to everyone. Should I say “except” the wealthy or “including” them? I’m not doing too badly myself I’ve played it smart by travelling light, keeping expenses down and borrowing nothing.

A 10.25 Salon piece by Richard Eskow called “7 Facts That Show The American Dream is Dead” plows the usual turf. The middle-class can’t breathe for the debt. No one can afford to retire. One-income families are a thing of the past, and even those with two incomes can’t even seem to get ahead. The terms of most college loans equal economic enslavement. Nobody can afford to retire or take vacations. Health care costs are rising and making things all the harder for Joe Schmoe.

The only way out is to “address two underlying problems,” Eskow boringly writes. “First, we must end the domination of our electoral process by wealthy and powerful elites. At the same time, we must begin to address the problem of growing economic inequality. Without a national movement to call for change, change simply isn’t going to happen.” Who is the only high-office holder aside from Sen. Bernie Sanders who has stood up and said this is precisely what needs to be done? I’m speaking of a woman whose initials are not H.C. She’s the only one to call a spade a spade in this regard. No one else comes close. For the American middle-class to not be clamoring for her to run for President is sheer self-disregard, plain and simple.