In NW Iowa, the land of livestock confinements and the $20k/acre farmland there is a lot of affluence. Many farmers have become multi-millionaires through hard work, good business, and yes, government subsidies too. A government spun tax code that would confuse a spider has helped.
I'm not a farmer and this is not true of everybody of course but the small family crop and livestock farm is becoming extinct. There are very large family spreads yet and corporate farms and sprawling confinements are common place. Farmers now have to be pretty shrewd business men and there are many here judging from the looks of things.
Folks here are generally fiscally conservative though and unlike the high interest rate period of the early eighties (Carter) when many lost land and farms, most here weather normal commodity ups and downs in good order.
And Obama's fabricated economic figures aside, generally, I see many middle class and below in for more challenging times.
