I’m convinced that an observation I made about two years ago was prophetic. While waiting for a shuttle on a usually warm spring day I gazed at some beautiful homes on a big hill and announced to a total stranger that there is no longer a middle class. I went on to announce that either people were wealthy and not feeling the pinch of an impending financial crisis, or they were poor and either living above or barely within their means. This young lad couldn’t see this being a possible reality. I went on to explain that in spite of the streets lined with the latest SUVs, the people driving these vehicles were either very rich or the paycheck-to-paycheck working poor. I assured him that they either owned these vehicles outright or were working, often several jobs, to keep from getting upside down in them. I even noted that many were driving vehicles they were already upside down in, and that one should not judge based on the size and newness of the vehicle being driven, the driver’s wealth status. He, presumably a resident of this affluent society, couldn’t grasp the gloominess of this observation. Several months ticked down and I watched the price of gasoline soar. I watched grid-lock on the road dwindle. I watched bus rider-ship increase as the elite continued to drive and the no-longer existent middle class began to enjoy a metro-sponsored, chauffeured ride into town. I watched as people began losing their jobs, their homes, their cars, their savings. I watched the middle-class move closer towards extinction. I’d like to emphasize that wealth really isn’t about how much money one has; but how respectful one is of the money they have. You have some broke rich people; just as you have some comfortably wealthy poor. I do believe the middle class will return. But it will be redefined. I'd like to conclude this article by stating you’re either rich, which means you don’t have debt burdening your every move; or you’re poor, wondering when the tow truck will come and hook up your delinquent vehicle. The rich work because they want to; the poor work because they have to. Both groups work from a perspective of need. The rich have need to not be bored. The poor have need to not be in over their head in what they seek to afford. Again, the middle class is really obsolete. It’s an illusion. You’re either rich; or you’re poor. Live like the latter and you’ll never have to worry about whether you’re the former. It will be automatic. Discover your wealth in surrounding yourself in the simplicity of kindred spirits, the depths of a good book; the absorption of doing something you’d do even if you didn’t get paid. And know that money like water cycles and recycles. If this economy has your pond a little drier than ten years ago, trust that an overflow will cycle your way again. Just remember next time to not dive head-first into shallow waters that appear to be deep. The face of the next generation of middle-class Americans will look a lot different than yesteryear's and will have a bank account and spending habits far different than the late-stage baby-boomers of today. No matter the political persuasion, the next generation of middle-class America will resemble the conservative Republican who took an idea and ran to the bank with it. They've seen too clearly in this mass epidemic of job lay-offs how uncertain working for someone else can be. It'll be interesting to see how things cycle in the next few years to come. I'm optimistic. It would be best if the rest of America would be so as well.