The “fundamental transformation” President Obama promised us is well underway. The largely self-reliant, proud, and prosperous American middle class is shrinking, and the dependent, subsidized, and generally envious lower middle class and lower class has expanded dramatically since 2008.  Christopher S. Rugaber of the AP reports: Since 2008, the number of Americans who call themselves middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to a survey in January by the Pew Research Center, from 53% to 44%. Forty percent now identify as either lower-middle or lower class compared with just 25% in February 2008. Put this another way, the number of people self-identifying as lower and lower-middle has expanded 60%.  That, of course, is a Democrat constituency, for people in that class see government assistance (food stamps, earned income tax credit, ObamaCare subsidies, and the like) as their ticket to a level of comfort within shooting distance of the middle...(Read Full Post)