Back in its golden age in the 1950s and 1960s, it offered middle-class people, not just techy high-fliers, a shot at the American dream complete with superb schools and universities, and an enviable physical infrastructure.

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The choice of programs -- shows produced in-house and educational and other specialized fare less likely to appeal to lower class viewers -- contributed to the high rate of people signing up and then dropping the service.

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Perhaps most troubling, states with high income taxes tend to lose people, particularly in the middle class.

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High inflation and rising unemployment are adversely affecting working people and the salaried middle class.

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And finally, we know that even with better high schools, if you want a good job and work your way into the middle class, most young people are going to need some higher education.

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In the cities, banks maintain branch networks which serve the middle class and high net worth customers, said Mallon, although the cities also have a high percentage of unbanked people.

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Walmart like the majority of employers with more than 5, 000 empolyes is self insured so people need to believe that they are getting high quality care and it appears that their partnership with world class health care providers supports that view.

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New markets seldom get built this way, unless the consumer experience is so compelling and the brand so powerful that people will consider a totally new class of product (see the iPad, which demonstrates just how high a bar those criteria are to meet).

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