Cantor is full of it. The GOP sold out a long time ago to corporate America.
“What was wildly wonderful for Corporate America was hell on Middle America. But the Republican Party had made its choice. It had sold its soul to the multinationals. And as it went along with NAFTA, GATT, fast track and mass immigration, to appease Corporate America, it lost Middle America.” [Pat Buchanan]
Just like the Democrats. How funny.
Nobody wants to say this in today's political climate, but the biggest factor in the decline of America's middle class is that the definition of the "middle class" has changed dramatically. Today's "middle class" has a standard of living that would have been the envy of royalty even as recently as 30-40 years ago.
Our "middle class" is disappearing because its expectations have become very much "upper class" in almost every respect.