If the U.S. economy is getting better, then why are major retail chains closing thousands of stores?

If we truly are in an "economic recovery", then why do sales figures continue to go down for large retailers all over the country?

Without a doubt, the rise of Internet retailing giants such as Amazon.com have had a huge impact. Today, there are millions of Americans that actually prefer to shop online. Personally, when I published my novel I made it solely available on Amazon. But Internet shopping alone does not account for the great retail apocalypse that we are witnessing. In fact, some retail experts estimate that the Internet has accounted for only about 20 percent of the decline that we are seeing.

Most of the rest of it can be accounted for by the slow, steady death of the middle class U.S. consumer.