Put simply, you don't create a reasonable middle class income for the poor by impoverishing the middle classes - you do it by taxing and regulating the rich, because they own the bulk of the wealth.

While I'm sure some rich conservatives enjoy the divide-and-rule prospect of trying to set the poor, the unemployed and the middle classes fighting each other for scraps like crabs in a bucket, the point of progressive policy is to ensure that social investment is substantial and significant.

Scraps from the table aren't an acceptable substitute for that.