It doesn't help that from 2000 to 2015 inflation has eroded our buying power to to the point that it takes 1.38 times more money to have the same buying power one dollar had in the year 2000. This factor alone, if not offset by an equal increase in wages, will make affording any stereo equipment a lot more difficult.
I don't think we live in a billionaire economy, per se, but the recession combined with the effects of inflation has negatively impacted the middle class. Increasing globalization has taken away jobs that Americans had before the recession and the "recovery" has not resulted in their return. The average member of middle class has a lot of demands on their money and their discretionary income is lower than it has been in the past.
Here is a link to The Bureau Labor and Statistics data, tracking
Five Decades of Middle Class Wages: August 2015 Update
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Employment-Wages-and-Hours-since-1964.php The data shows how the average hours worked and the gross wages earned are about 12% lower than the best year in the 1970s.
It's worth checking out the data for the insight into how the middle class has fared over the last 50years.
I thought it was worse than it is, but an overall loss in total take home pay over time does not bode well for the future. Made in America will be critical to turning this trend around.
It all too easy to allow the media to define this as a class struggle between the 1% and everyone else, this takes the focus off the complex nature of the problem and yields a simplistic view that can be readily reduced to a soundbite.
News Light, easy to swallow, and it's less informative!
Scotty