By Andy Potter

There's more evidence that the American economy is putting the squeeze on the middle class. Senator Bernie Sanders took personal testimony from many Vermonters who are concerned about their financial futures.

Housing prices have skyrocketed over the last thirty years. But even this symbol of the rising middle class has a downside. "The reality is that the middle class has been shrinking for many, many years," Sanders told a gathering he convened at Montpelier High School on Saturday. "It's not a new phenomenon, it did not happen two days ago with the foreclosure crisis."

To back up that claim, Sanders brought in Prof. Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law professor who says she studied the impact of economic changes over the last three decades. "So it's kind of one generation, what happened to the middle class," she said.

Warren listed several consumer expenditures that have actually gone down since the 1970s -- items you might not guess -- including cars. She said automobiles cost almost a fourth less because they last longer and quality is up, saving on maintenance. She said Americans spend a third less on clothing. But families are spending much more on housing.

"In terms of their monthly outlay, they're paying more than double every single month to be able to sustain that home," she said. "What we have done in the housing area, and we can talk about the reasons this happened, but what we've done in the housing area has absolutely crippled the economics of the American family."

Ann Moore of Wheelock said, "We worker bees toil away and try to make ends meet, and we're feeling the squeeze."

Moore gave her own testimony to the squeeze, exemplified by the need in many families for both parents to work. She continued, "Neither one of us ever thought we would be here because we watched our parents' generation work hard and move into this stage in life -- you know, the empty nester thing -- with some financial security."

Sanders said his web site was inundated with more than three-hundred responses to a request for personal stories about peoples' economic situation. He said all the rosy economic forecasts in the world won't change that reality.