> Even very poor people have very high standards of material living. True, but their standard of living is still worse than that of their parents which is what

> Even very poor people have very high standards of material living. True, but their standard of living is still worse than that of their parents which is what I believe OP is trying to convey. It's no longer possible for an assembly line worker to own a modest home; care for a stay-at-home-spouse; raise two children; go on a modest vacation once per year; save a little bit to deal with unexpected costs; and retire with a modest pension. This, more than anything else, is the fundamental cause of division in the US. It's what Michael Moore is highlighting in Roger & Me. It's the—now broken—social contract Gen X and Millennials were raised to trust. The ideological division we see today existed before the social contract was broken, but most people were too busy living their lives to care. I haven't looked too closely into this, but I'd bet that the total KKK membership count tracks pretty closely to the amount of economic stress experienced by the median American.