Mr. Herbert, one of the lonely voices screaming about the current system, writes in the NYT, "...In 2008, a startling 91.6 million people — more than 30 percent of the entire U.S. population — fell below 200 percent of the federal poverty line, which is a meager $21,834 for a family of four. The question for Democrats is whether there is anything that will wake them up to their obligation to extend a powerful hand to ordinary Americans and help them take the government, including the Supreme Court, back from the big banks, the giant corporations and the myriad other predatory interests that put the value of a dollar high above the value of human beings...Those at the bottom of the economic heap seem all but doomed in this environment. The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston put the matter in stark perspective after analyzing the employment challenges facing young people in Chicago: “Labor market conditions for 16-19 and 20-24-year-olds in the city of Chicago in 2009 are the equivalent of a Great Depression-era, especially for young black men.”..."

***

Bottom of the economic heap....sounds like the Bottom of the Pyramid. A multitude of innovations have been focused on providing amenities to the people at the bottom of the ladder in countries like India- including small MRIs, induction ranges, cell phones with innovative plans, and so on. It is time that the bottom of the pyramid included the millions Mr. Herbert writes about.