It's time for America to talk class

[Commentary] In a week that saw the number of people in poverty hit a half-century high and President Barack Obama propose a tax increase on those with million-dollar incomes, will America and the American media finally dig in for a serious conversation about class? Ghastly economic news and grinding unemployment would say yes. Even though economists say the gap between haves and have-nots has been building for three decades, the growing income disparity and its causes have come up for discussion mostly as a sidebar — removed from the front page, rarely the lead story on the evening news.