By Hedrick Smith

In his fresh effort to put the economy back at center stage in Washington, President Obama has issued a

new challenge to congressional Republicans on the crucial issue of why the American middle class is hurting and which side can best lift average Americans out of the rut. And the president has history on his side of the argument.

Both sides agree that the middle class is financially squeezed. But they disagree on the causes and the cures, which means they are headed for a nasty showdown in the fall over government programs and the budget.

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As first run by The Sacremento Bee on August 11, 2013

By Hedrick Smith
Special to The Bee

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the nation’s economic recovery is that it has not healed America’s gaping financial inequalities. In fact, just the opposite. Our highly touted New Economy, abetted by a Congress with its thumb on the scales against average Americans, has actually widened the gulf between the 1 percent and the rest of us since the United States hit bottom in 2009.

That’s bad news for everyone. Economic studies are unambiguous: U.S. economic growth is hurt when wealth is hyper-concentrated in a small super-rich elite. History shows that America grows best when income differences are smaller and the middle class gets a larger share of the nation’s gains, as it once did.

See the article in its entirety here…