ABSTRACT
In recent years there has been an increasing awareness and concern with respect to rising levels of economic distress and inequality in the United States. There is a sense that America is moving away from its middle-class roots, and transforming itself into a society of haves and have-nots. The rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the fall of 2011 was emblematic of these feelings and frustrations. Much of the recent concern has been upon the fact that a small group of Americans appear to have been doing exceedingly well economically, while a majority of households have been struggling. There is a sense that growing poverty and economic insecurity amidst extreme levels of plenty and wealth appear to be fundamentally wrong.
