As economies slip and slide into recession the world over and central banks cut interest rates to prop up crippled economies lets take an in depth view of emerging Asia’s middle class. The majority of Asian populations that silently revolutionize countries through their ideologies and purchasing power, are being eagerly viewed by economists the world over to see how they react to the crisis. The battle could go either way say economists – either the neo bourgeoisie who have climbed up those few rungs of the corporate ladder and now slipped back down rebel to overthrow the affluent or they use their energies positively to innovate making entrepreneurial breakthroughs.

The middle class is a large and significant population of any Asian country. Their buying habits sway marketing tactics of fortune 500 companies and their intellect drives a nation forward, Yet it is this class of people that will be most affected by the crisis.

Although the rich will suffer losses in revenue and equity, they will have a cushion to fall back onto. The poor in any Asian nation are yet quite removed from the vagaries of globalization to feel the full impact of the downfall. It is however the middle class who strive to put their children into private schools, who have been affected by the mass lay offs in factories and yet it is them who will guide the way nations dig their way out of the financial crisis.

Although no global consensus has yet been reached about who exactly classify as middle class a rough estimate computing household survey data and purchasing power parity says there were about 250 million middle class in 2000 and 400m in 2005. The World bank estimates there will be 1.2 billion middle class people by 2030, or 15 percent of the world population.

News reports across the world already talk of middle class and migrant uprisings from security guards in Bangladesh to factory workers in China. As the financial crisis deepens, and the food crisis re emerges, its time governments and affluent people in emerging Asia take stock of the situation. Its time they follow more socialist policies and make sure wealth trickles down. If not, as frustration swells, it could boil out of control.