I think we need to look at the bigger picture though. Working class wages haven't kept pace but interest rates have gotten much lower making it "easier" to borrow money. In addition, because of increased productivity (in part because of out sourcing work which unions can't easily defend against), consumer goods are far cheaper than they used to be.

We've also seen a great domestic expansion in the upper middle class and a reduction in the lower class since then. More people are "middle class" than ever before with a larger percentage being "upper middle class". However, the middle class feels further away from the upper middle class in large part because there are simply many more upper middle class people than ever before (and more upper class for that matter).

I'm not trying to make a counter argument or anything but just trying to make an argument that we can't do an apples-to-apples comparison between today and 1971. Relative wages are less for a group of people, but consumer goods are relatively cheaper as well. Home prices are relatively higher but interest rates are far, far lower. The middle class has grown and poverty has been shrunk to record low levels (people often forget how many people were impoverished in this country not too long ago) but a lot of that growth has been in new upper middle class people.

We've seen union participation fall, yes - but have we asked "why" it has fallen?