There’s a rapidly widening gap in the distribution of income and wealth. The latest census data depict a collapsing middle class (this video details how it happened and its ramifications), high underemployment, low (and declining) labor participation, and rising outlays for disability, food stamps and low-income tax credits. Alarming as they are, the statistics do not include the 97.3 million low-income Americans -defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level- who are considered too rich to qualify for government assistance. Thus, together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line, the poor number 146.4 million, or roughly 48 percent of the U.S. population. Broken down by race and ethnicity, Hispanics top the list at 73 percent, followed by blacks, Asians, and non-Hispanic whites. States in the South and West have the highest percentage of low-income families, particularly Arizona, New Mexico and South Carolina; however, by raw numbers most are in California and Texas.

The last time the gap between rich and poor approached today’s alarming level was in the years just before the Great Depression, a bygone era when American workers were insulated from quasi-slave foreign labor, the Federal Government’s debt as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) was but a fraction of what it is today, the trade deficit with China simply did not exist, and the U.S. was a net oil exporter. The result: the wealthiest 1 percent of the population have amassed 225 times the wealth of the typical American.

The gap is a consequence of a massive, continuing disinvestment in America. Since 1970 millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs were relocated or outsourced, and there’s no reason to believe they’ll ever come back. That is a recipe for disaster. Thousands of college graduates, unable to find employment in their fields of expertise, may find it impossible to support themselves and pay their non-dischargeable student loans.

The purpose of presenting these facts is not to imply, infer or suggest that a redistribution of existing wealth by radical means will work. On the contrary, any solution to this complex, vital problem should focus on the creation of an imperceptible mechanism to divert a greater percentage of future wealth to the middle class. That would improve the purchasing power of American consumers and strengthen our democracy.