Let's say that's true. There are no real figures to support it, but let's dispense with asserting facts that are subject to verification. Let's just assume for the sake of the discussion that that contention is true.
The real figures (which are available) show that the majority of the 99% have stagnated or declined. There has been some income growth in the upper-middle-class and more of it in the somewhat-rich. So the statement isn't precisely true, but it's true enough.
THEREFORE, ----- [what follows?]
On the assumption that you want a serious answer to this question:
The reason that this has happened is because of government policies enacted at the behest of big business. The policies I'm referring to, in particular, are:
1) Flattening of the tax system in the mid-1980s to place more of the burden on the middle class and less on the rich.
2) A change in government policy with respect to enforcement of labor rights, that enabled employers to take more aggressive (and illegal) action to suppress union formation, resulting in a decline of union power.
3) Trade agreements, plus features in the tax code, that encourage manufacturers and some service providers to take advantage of dirt-cheap foreign labor in preference to employing people in the advanced economies.
4) Deregulation of the financial industry passed in the 1990s that encouraged investment in risky financial schemes like the one that triggered the recent collapse. When those schemes paid off instead of going bust, they acted as a transfer of wealth from middle and upper-middle-class investors to the very wealthy.
5) Reduction of government spending that benefits the middle class, the poor, and college students, while government spending that benefits the rich (military spending and government subsidies to industry) has increased.
6) Use of large-scale deficit spending when no national emergency requires it, thus allowing wealthy investors to lend money to the government at interest rather than paying it in taxes, and tying future revenues up in service to this debt, which amounts to a transfer of wealth through the tax system from the middle class to the rich.
The answer to "what then" is simply: reverse all of these. Make the tax system progressive again to discourage concentration of wealth. Aggressively enforce labor law and protect employees' rights to bargain collectively. Be more selective about our trade agreements, making free trade something we do with advanced economies that play by the rules, not with third-world dictatorships. Reestablish the Glass-Steagal act. Increase government spending for infrastructure, education, research, and other things beneficial to the non-rich, while cutting back on military spending and reducing our overseas commitments. And finally, use deficit spending only in emergency times (like the present), balancing the budget when the economy is strong and we are at peace.
This is what will restore the middle class and bring back prosperity.
It's not a simple program, granted. But it's the answer to your question.
