Poverty, Wealth, and Social Class

I was born and raised in one of the most wealthy areas of the United Staes , The East Coast. I live around 30 Min outside of boston, and the way things are back home I'm used to it because it is the only thing i know, but traveling and coming out here, telling people I'm from MA the response i get is usually a gasp and then a serious statement about how expensive it is out there. Now i have been lucky enough to live in the same house, in a nice neighborhood, for the past eighteen years, and growing up thats how i thought most peoples lives where. Money was never an issue in my family and i never really thought to much about it but with the bad economy, rising prices, and lay offs, any thing could happen. For a company my dad had been the boss of his area for around 20 years, but even the economy got to his job too, My dad ended up getting laid off a few years ago, but soon after luckily found another job, though he has to travel 2 hours there and back every day. He was just lucky to find a job. The economy is at its lowest right now and a lot of people are struggling just to have food on there plates. I did not experience anything compared to all the other billions of people in the world. To me it seems as though the middle class is dying out, or at least in MA. It is like there are only very wealthy people or dirt poor people, and it sadness me that these people can not find jobs. Even the very wealthy, that wealth will not last forever, because most are probably in a lot of debt which does not make the economy any better. People are buying things that in reality they can't pay for, people go for their wants rather then their needs. If those people listened to the churches council about staying out of debt the economy and people standing in society would be so much better, there would be more jobs, less poverty, it may not be much but it would be a good place to start!