A Victorian 21st Century?

I don't much go in for politics but can't help but be exposed to various views from friends, family, passing bits on the news, and advertising in the middle of otherwise good shows on tv. Maybe it's the splashy sort of exposure among other, very-different topics (including medieval re-creation, discussions of steampunk and cyberspace, crafts and cooking) that caused the image to form, rather than any real trends. Still, it was startling in its sudden clarity and completeness. Here are some of the pieces that stuck in my mind:
Republican's who originated things like the clean water act encouraging the dismantlement of environmental protection on behalf of big business (may or may not be true but it seems to be a popular claim by opponents);
the small size of the American middle class, working poor, homeless families that used to be upper middle class, more billionaires (really? with all those bank disasters and big company closures? Small businesses used to be the source of retired millionaires, but not billionaires where did they come from?); Crime crime crime (okay, it's actually way down despite the bad economy, but you'd never know if from the push to increase the size of every police and security force in sight),
union breaking (older relatives think the democrats and others are mad because the Wisconsin leadership decided the barely-above poverty teachers and state workers should all pay a bit of their own medical insurance like everyone else. Friends say the employees had no objection to that but resented the union breaking and related maneuvering to get it through congress on the sly);
plants and animals going extinct in every direction, indicative of bad environment and unpleasant living conditions for crowded humans (and yet they think the housing market is a key indicator for the economy? Do they realize some people are consciously choosing to not add to overpopulation and sprawl?);
Reduced retirment benefits, few pensions, and savings poured into heroic medicine (that is, the overuse of medical treatments when readily available and cheaper means of prevention would have worked far better)
Mansions continue to be built while foreclosure signs abound
Modest dress even among teens? (though they choose to how off the oddest selection of body parts sometimes...) and still parents complain at inappropriate dress and sexting and other expressions of... shall we say post-pubescent biological imperatives? (Which generation invented mid-drifts, hip huggers, and hot pants anyway?)

So what do you get (as an image if not the reality?): Seriously conservative dress, rich rich, homeless poor, struggling farmers, a wild west image of rampant crime and guns, bartering and subsistance living, working until death, overbearing cops and security forces who barely understand law and rights: a dirty, privileged, bright candles and dark alleys, glittering crystal and invisible victims of poverty and death, Victorian era with smart phones.