Reply #5: It's the mentality of the uber rich

[Hydra]

I, too, couldn't see why they didn't just keep the middle class zoo in place- the middle class works hard, pays large portions of their wages in taxes and services like insurance, and isn't appreciably more aware politically than the poor(and as one of the poor, I can say we have people who know nothing about why they are being screwed, and people like me who know who, what, where, why and how- full spectrum). In other words, a perfect set of cattle- fat, complacent and "living the american dream"

Now the problem comes at this point, a general truism:

The lower class wants everyone to be equal
The middle class wants what the upper class has
The upper class wants to keep what they have and keep the others out

The problem the upper classes have is Fear of the other two classes- the other two classes are far more numerous in case of revolt, especially if they are well armed and have smart and educated leaders.

From that problem comes the attempt to eliminate the threats.

-Education is cut down to the bare minimum needed for us to serve them, and reading and being smart are made socially undesirable. We are given TV news and other substitutes.

-They eliminate the middle class altogether- "How dare they think they're entitled to what we have?!" When you are working as hard as you can to keep food on the table and a roof above your head, you don't spend much time connecting the dots on who put you in that position.

-They arm the police with cutting edge weapons and the ability to search and arrest without probable cause- "they could be part of the rebellion, you know" and you give them the ability to torture or transfer the prisoner to the military to do such. That puts the fear back into the people.

In essence, to appease their fear of us, they turn us into slaves and make us as powerless as possible, and as fearful as possible. So what if they need more of us to get the same amount of wealth- that never bothered them before.