When the rich turn the middle class against the poor

How amazing that you don't know this word. Everybody in the UK would recognise this as the verb "to Thatcher''.

But of course there are differences in UK and US usage. I suppose our version should be "to Reagan"?

>I suppose our version
>should be "to Reagan"?

I like this; it gives the image of someone getting zapped.

Robbed and Hooded.

From the Toronto Serial Diners Collective:
Sorry if this doesn't mean much to you, but for the record, the Canadian equivalent of "to Thatcher" or "to Reagan" would definiely be "to Mulrone" (from Mulroney, of course). The current Ontario equivalent is, appropriately, "to Harrass" (from conservative premier Mike Harris).

How about a word that already exists? When the rich turn the middle classes against the poor, they create bourgeiosie.

I'm all in favor of words that already exist, but if we want this idea to be represented by *one* word, we'll need to turn "bourgeois" into a verb ...

Why not do it? Bourgeois writers and speakers did it with with various forms of the word "impact" and some other words that I can't bring to mind just now. It would be a verb that fits them with abundant perfection.

I believe "pauvresse oblige" is the outcome of the verb action you describe. It is the insinuated faith nurtured in the middle class by the more affluent that the poor owe the world the unforgivable offense of their presence. In this way, they provide an eternal and justifiable compost for any further responsibility the rest of us may feel.