Pie, we're saying more or less the same thing. I'm just saying that those well-paying middle class jobs tended to be in manufacturing. Hollow that sector out and a lot of people are left with basically nothing.
I object to your easy characterization that it is the rich and republicans who are in favor of this. Bill Clinton pushed NAFTA, which was a huge expansion of free trade and also pushed access to our market for his chinese buddies. Free trade, WTO, etc have enjoyed bipartisan support.
The CEO class definitely deserves some blame though. The auto industry was plagued by poor management for decades. The notion that CEO's are entitled to obscene amounts of money just because they run a big company is a big problem for us. We are creating our own class of oligarchs. That is a problem in itself, but I think the inequality problem is better addressed by creating the conditions that lead to good stable jobs in manufacturing, energy and construction. Unfortunately, letting in vast number sof low skilled illegal immigrants undercuts that whole effort.