alephnerdMore Americans Are Breaking into the Upper Middle Class
https://www.wsj.com/economy/more-americans-are-breaking-into-the-upper-middle-class-bf8b7cb2
The headline is a remarkably rosy spin on it when the subheading is "Research shows that ranks of higher earners have grown markedly over last 50 years, while lower rungs of middle class have shrunk". The article is behind a paywall but it makes it sound like inequality is increasing.
Pretty much. It's reiterating an observation of mine [0] that we now live in a K-shaped economy where the 70th percentile and above are distinct from the 50th percentile and below.
Most HNers and their social peers are in the 70th percentile and above.
That's the whole point. When people hear "the middle class is shrinking" they intuitively believe people are slipping down a rung and joining the ranks of the working poor. The data doesn't back that up. The middle class is shrinking, but more people are moving up a rung than falling down one.
Which isn't to say that you're wrong about wealth inequality increasing. The share of wealth controlled by the ultra wealthy IS increasing, but the specifics of how that is playing out are nuanced and, at times, counter-intuitive.
The economy is not a zero-sum game. Inequality doesn't materially harm anyone as long as it's caused by the rich (or middle class in this case) getting richer and not by the poor getting poorer.
Obviously if the poor got richer too that would be even better (that's a whole other discussion), but that they didn't doesn't make this bad news unless you're the kind of jealous person who hates hearing about other people's success.
My son graduates college next month. Although he has an ok job lined up, he and most of his cohorts are incredibly pessimistic about the future and I'm not sure I can say that I blame them.