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The hourglass economy. Nobody in American public discourse talks about the poor much anymore. Meanwhile, as Wal-Mart has already figured out, the poor have become a business opportunity (WSJ):

Save-A-Lot has quietly become one of the nation's most successful grocery chains by courting a demographic supermarkets have long ignored: the poor. The Earth City, Mo., chain is blanketing the country with tiny, cheap stores catering to households earning less than $35,000 a year, generating higher profits than most grocers while doing so.

Save-A-Lot is one of an emerging breed of no-frills supermarkets known as "hard discounters" who are changing the way Americans buy cheap goods and increasing pressure on branded food makers to keep prices low. Their growth illustrates how food retail, like other consumer industries, is splitting away from the middle. Save-A-Lot and the upscale Whole Foods Market Inc. are thriving, while Kroger and other traditional chains flounder in what some economists call an hourglass economy.

There is less of a spectrum and more of a dichotomy of economic classes in America now.

This, when referring to things like retirement assets or healthcare, is what Bush Republicans mean when they say "choice."

Rich or poor.

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