Also, more Americans are living in poverty. But don’t look over there.
Doesn't look like it. What's your source? https://www.statista.com/statistics/200463/us-poverty-rate-s...
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More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
41–50 of 94 posts
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#42the thing that doesn't compute for me is that the definition of upper middle class here is 5-15x the federal poverty line, ok, but in 1970 the federal poverty line was like ~$3k (and ~$22k today) 10x in 1970 (~33k/year) in nyc you could buy a 2,000 sqft apt for like 2.75x your salary [1] today, that same apartment is like >10x - so while perhaps more people are earning "upper middle class" incomes, what that gets you…
The poverty line, as established in the 60s, is simply 3x the minimum food budget. Food as a percentage of spending has decreased, while housing and other expenses have dramatically increased.
If the poverty line were to be adjusted to reflect the share that food takes up of income today, from ~30% in 1963 to ~6% today, the threshold for a family of four would go from ~30k a year to ~150k.
More in-depth explanation here: https://www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-life-is-a-lie
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> more people are moving up a rung than falling down one. How do you figure that? Do we have any data that backs that up?
You are commenting on the article that contains data that backs that up.
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#44No kidding. If you allow a population to gamble online, with prediction markets, derivatives, etc. don't be surprised if you widen the wealth gap.
More winners, but even more losers.
But hey, you only ever hear about the winners, so it's great for the image. America is doing great!
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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>Inequality doesn't materially harm anyone as long as it's caused by the rich Asset inflation disagrees with you. You end up in a situation where you make more money, and you can buy more stuff, except stuff in a few particular but important categories. For example physical properties.
The term you're looking for is "real wages". Obviously I'm not claiming that someone making the same nominal wage in 1980 as they do now in 2026 is just as well off. That would count as "getting poorer".
US median real wages, for reference: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#46Also, more Americans are living in poverty. But don’t look over there.
source?
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't look like it. What's your source? https://www.statista.com/statistics/200463/us-poverty-rate-s...
Poverty line is different from living paycheck-to-paycheck. The growth is not dramatic, but steady over time: https://institute.bankofamerica.com/content/dam/economic-ins...
Where I live the income limits for entering homeless housing are over double the federal poverty threshold. It is a completely failed metric.
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#48No kidding. If you allow a population to gamble online, with prediction markets, derivatives, etc. don't be surprised if you widen the wealth gap. More winners, but even more losers. But hey, you only ever hear about the winners, so it's great for the image. America is doing great!
The subtitle specifically says 'the lower rungs of middle class have shrunk'? This seems a little ridiculous to just say. As trendy as it is to hate on modern day life and talk about how awful it is, in material terms it's pretty clearly better than it's ever been.
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#49Great for these people, but will there be such opportunities for their children? I thought I did well for myself, finding myself among the middle class, the end is on the horizon.
The social elevator works well enough to expect that one's children will do well if you provide them with the tools they'll need (which are basically a good education and love and support).
Is that an assertion? I don’t know that is necessarily always true in modern America.
Re: More Americans are breaking into the upper middle class
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not necessarily. If the size of the pie is growing then it might be ok for the 'poor'. They get a smaller share of the bigger pie that is still bigger than what they had before. However if the pie hasn't grown as fast as the inequality has grown, then their share has been on a continuous decline. The US is not a high pie growth economy. Rich getting richer can very much better a serious problem when the pie does not…
That's just another way of describing a scenerio where the "poor are getting poorer". Focusing on the share of the pie ("inequality") is a red herring, if the poor are getting less wealthy in absolute terms that's bad regardless of whether inequality is increasing or decreasing.
Depends on how poverty is being measured.
Many measure it in terms of money and not the sum total of goods and services that they can claim. Infact in lay person literature it is usually measured in terms money (+ liquid assets), at best inflation adjusted if they are comparing different times.
This why one needs to think in terms of the 'pie'.
> if the poor are getting less wealthy in absolute terms that's bad regardless of whether inequality is increasing or decreasing.
In complete agreement with that. I did not realise that my comment conveyed the opposite.