The past few years have been very good for United Technologies. The contractor does billions of dollars a year in business with the federal government. CEO Gregory Hayes pulled down nearly $10 million in 2014, and over $20 million the year before. On Thursday, the company reported $7.6 billion in profits, up from $6.2 billion the year before, and $5.7 billion the year before that. In October, United Technologies even expanded its stock buyback program to $12 billion. Spending the company's money to purchase its own stock elevates the value of its share prices. United Technologies was so flush with cash that it could burn money to boost returns for its investors.

Surely this largesse would trickle down to its rank-and-file employees, right?

Not exactly.

On Wednesday, Carrier, the air conditioner manufacturing wing of United Technologies, told workers at its Indianapolis plant that it would be outsourcing their jobs to Monterrey, Mexico.

Over the past year, the establishment wings of both the Republican and Democratic parties have struggled to understand the outrage expressed in that video. How could people seriously consider a Democratic socialist from Vermont, or a crypto-fascist strongman for president?

The answer is pretty simple.

Both Republicans and Democrats have consistently backed economic policies over the past 35 years that have systematically gutted the American middle class.

For decades, Congress has listened to corporate lobbyists who told our representatives that if they could just cut this one tax rate, or just ease this one regulation, there would be a renaissance of prosperity.

The renaissance has happened for the rich. Everyone else has been left behind.