Is U.S.'s storybook image lost forever?

• Position: YOUR LIFE

It was once a classic storybook image: The American family with a middle class income, 2.5 children, a nice car to get around town, and a white picket fence with a house behind it. Life was good. Now that image is distorted severely. Middle class Americans today are finding themselves trapped between stagnant wages and a high cost of living. Many worry they will not have the money to pay their bills, purchase a house, or provide for their family. The dollar simply does not stretch like it used to and, according to Curtis Arnold, author of Honey, Who Shrunk Our Money? Protect Your Savings and Profit from America's Woes, the situation is only going to get worse.

"The truth is that many Americans could face a financial future even bleaker than they expect. Outsourcing and offshoring jeopardize an increasing number of industries," says Arnold. "What began as a trickle will soon become a flood as a growing number of productive enterprises move overseas to produce products more cheaply and more efficiently."

Despite these problems, Arnold points out that there are ways to protect one's savings and actually profit from the country's woes. "The quality of life for most Americans may decline, but with...