What's happened to the middle?

It's official now.  For decades those who follow population trends could see that the big bubble in the middle, the middle class, was consistently shrinking.  More people and families were slipping into lower income sectors.  The lucky few were capturing more of the wealth.  Yes, the fond target of mass marketers is no longer where there is growth.  It has shrunk to the point that big name brands such as Proctor & Gamble and H.J.Heinz are now focusing their product mix on high and low end products.  And Canada's adept and market smart Loblaw is keeping pace launching Black Label products that would usually be found in high end gourmet shops.  For the Toronto indepth picture of income polarization I recommend reading The 3 Cities within Toronto prepared by Prof. David Hulchanski, Cities Centre, University of Toronto.