"You have to see reality as it is!"

The above quote is from the CEO of Proctor and Gamble. Today's Wall Street Journal has an in-depth article about America's shrinking middle class, and what companies are doing about that reality. Interestingly, companies that market to the low and high ends of the "hour glass" are having the best results. In fact, Citigroup has even devised an index of stocks, some of which are devoting product marketing to the highest end of the income spectrum, and some of which are going for the lowest end. Examples are Tiffany and Neiman Marcus on the high end, and Family Dollar Stores and Dollar General on the low end. If you would have invested in that index on December 10, 2009 and cashed in on September 1, 2011, you would have made 56% on your investment, as opposed to only 11% over the same period in the Dow Jones Industrial average.

There has been a 20% rise in income disparity in America over the last 40 years. Our graphs now look like the populations of the Phillipines and Mexico! Who would have imagined that?

Here is an observation that I think may be related to this discussion. The other day I had a couple hours to kill, so I decided to make my semi-annual visit to the Goodwill to stock up on "new" winter clothes. Goodwill has all the fancy brands that you would find in upscale department stores, and I can usually find a couple shirts and several pairs of pants in my size (I did so, and the bill came to $16!)

But here is the observation I wanted to make: I saw four or five women dressed in expensive-looking clothes perusing the racks. I think they were trying to find unique accessories without having to go to the trendy malls.