As with most modern communities, America has three main categories of social classes being the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. The upper class is made of the affluent, who are a very small segment of the community but handling a majority of the economic power. The middle class made of those who have some semblance financial security and the lower class is made up of the working poor and the underclass (Pew Research Center, 2016). Available statistics show that the middle class is shrinking with more of its members joining the underclass. According to a research by the Pew Research Center in 207 metropolitan centers, in 203 centers, middle class numbers reduced, in 160 centers lower income numbers increased while in 170 centers, upper class numbers increased (Pew Research Center, 2016) . It is evident that the middle class numbers are shrinking and public policy is playing a crucial role in the same.
Among the most significant causes for the shrinking of middle classes is the US public policy towards healthcare. In America, there is no guarantee of universal healthcare and the cost of clinical care and medication is among the highest in the world. According to the CDC, in 2017, 43.3 million working Americans were struggling with a medical bill for a family member (Fortune, 2018) . The medical insurance sector is robust but is purely commercial more so for those in the middle class bracket. A major illness on the family or a chronic illness creates a high propensity for the family finding itself in the lower income bracket. Further, the inability to afford healthcare may also lead to the passing on of the family breadwinner thus resulting in the family shifting to lower income status (Fortune, 2018) .
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The second significant cause of the shrinking of the middle class is poor regulation of the financial market. The US financial market is among the most robust in the world and part of the reasons for its robustness is limited government interference and regulation (Brannon, 2018) . The American middle classes aspire to move on to the upper classes and many seek to achieve the same through high-risk investment. Due to poor regulation and weak laws, many middle class investors get exploited, lose their savings and end up in the lower income classes.
Another significant public policy leading to the shrinking of the middle class is the lack of wage increase regulation. The USA has a public policy for the minimum wage earners but no policy for the middle class earners. Many professional affiliations for middle earners have seen their wages stagnating for years and in some cases even reducing (Krause & Sawhill, 2018) . For example, the average median earning for middle class men was about US$ 37,00 per year in 1957 and it was at approximately the same level in 1983 the stagnating salary was then made a generation problem by the dwindling of the upward mobility opportunities for middle class children. Using the same period above, a 67% chance of upward mobility for middle class children existed in 1967 compared with 50% in 1983 (Krause & Sawhill, 2018) . Children get stuck in the same earnings group as their parents while the cost of good continues to rise leading many to slip to the lower classes.
Based on the above, public policy is contributing greatly to the shrinking of the middle income in America. Poor public policy in health is among the main causes of the erosion of the middle class as medical bills push many to the middle classes. The lack of proper regulation of investment opportunities also causes many to lose their savings hence ending up in the lower classes. There is also the lack of proper regulation for the wages and salaries of middle income leading to many slipping down to the lower income class. A change in public policy is thus necessary to protect the middle class.
References
Brannon, I. (2018, February 13). Expanding Stock Market Wealth To The Middle Class. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ikebrannon/2018/02/13/expanding-stock-market-wealth-to-the-middle-class/#6704036f2b3f
Fortune. (2018, December 4). The Shrinking Middle Class: How We Got Here, And Why. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/longform/shrinking-middle-class-why/
Krause, E., & Sawhill, I. V. (2018, October 15). Seven reasons to worry about the American middle class. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2018/06/05/seven-reasons-to-worry-about-the-american-middle-class/
Pew Research Center. (2016, June 10). America's Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/05/11/americas-shrinking-middle-class-a-close-look-at-changes-within-metropolitan-areas/
