• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, September 12, 2011 9:45 AM

Heretofore, Procter & Gamble has been a middle-class brand in the U.S. But as the United States comes to resemble a developing country, P&G has had to address the sagging middle as consumers are trading down to lower-priced goods.

The company, which says it has at least one product in 98% of American households, has launched a new dish soap in the U.S. at a bargain price for the first time in 38 years. Even before the recession, incomes of American middle-class families weren't keeping up with inflation, especially with the rising costs of what are considered the essential ingredients of middle-class life -- college education, health care and housing. In 2009, the income of the median family, the one smack in the middle of the middle, was lower, adjusted for inflation, than in 1998, the Census Bureau says. Read on and pack your bags for Costa Rica.

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