JOEL KOTKIN: The Demise of New York City As A “Luxury Product.” “The newly Republican ninth district — stretching from south Brooklyn through the upper-middle-class strongholds around Forest Hills, Queens — reflects growing unease in the non-luxury parts of the city. The area is decidedly middle class, but with a median income of $55,000 it is the city’s least wealthy white district. For the most part, its residents have not benefited from Bloomberg’s management nor from Obama’s economic policies. Rather, the district reflects the kind of anxiety that is sweeping middle class areas across the country.”