In a Bertelsmann Foundation study on social justice releasedthis fall, the United States came in deadly last among the rich【M1】______countries, with only Greece, Chile, Mexico and Turkey faring worse. Whether in poverty prevention, child poverty, incomeinequality and health ratings, the United States ranked below【M2】______countries like Spain and South Korea, not mention Japan,【M3】______Germany or France. It was another sign of how badly Americans are hurting theirmiddle class. Wars, famine and violence have been devastated【M4】______middle classes before, in Germany and Japan. But when the smoke cleared and the dust settled, a social structure roughly similar to what existed before would always resurface. No nation has ever lost an existing middle class, and theUnited States is in danger of that yet. But the percentage of【M5】______national income holding by the top 1 percent of Americans went【M6】______from about 10 percent in 1980 to 24 percent in 2007, that is a【M7】______worrisome signal. So before the United States continues on its current road of dismantling its version of the welfare state, of expanding the gap between rich and poor, Americans might dowell glance south. The lesson is that even after a large middle class【M8】______emerges, yawning inequities between rich and poor severely strain any society’s cohesion and harmony. The United States has never had the type of robust welfarestate that European built after World War II. It didn’t need that.【M9】______Through private initiative and efforts to equalize opportunity, Americans long ago ensured that a huge middle class would provide the social glue to hold his society together.【M10】______ 【M1】