The greatest casualty of this slowly recovering economy has been the fall of the middle-class, but the decline did not begin in 2007 or 2008. The past decade has been the most financially unstable for the middle-income tier since World War II.

Credit: csmonitor.com

One of the recurring themes in the aftermath of the Todd Akin debacle is that it may cost Republicans control of the U.S. Senate where they currently hold 47 seats, needing a net gain of four seats to win a majority.