Why do people believe in the "shrinking middle class" myth?

Question

The "declining middle class" means that households are leaving the middle class faster than households are moving into it.

We have all these politicians saying "we're two Americas now because the middle class is shrinking." But the same BLS data set that shows that many households left the middle class shows where they went - and 92% of them moved UP.

It's also important to define terms - the "middle" means between 2X and 5X the poverty level of income - charted on a graph, the bell used to curve around 3X to 4X and now there's a wider bell that curves around 4X to 7X - households that are between 5X and 7X who used to be poorer now count as "affluent" but probably think of themselves as "upper middle class."

All that's happened is the "upper middle class" is bigger because "lower middle class" households moved up.

More people make more $ - why is that bad?

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2006/08/2...
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1988/05/art1...

Answer 1

i think the main subject of the myth is that cost of living is rising and the wages are staying the same therefore making it more of a rich-poor society.

Answer 2

I think you are confused.
The income distribution is not a bell curve.
The poverty level is usually defined as 3 times the amount needed for a nutritionally adequate diet, which has declined over the years relative to inflation because agriculture in the country has gotten more efficient.
The middle is usually defined to be the median (the amount where 1/2 earn more and 1/2 earn less) which is less than the average, For a bell curve the median = average
The median household income and average wages adjusted for inflation has not gone up over the last 30 years despite an increase in GDP per capita of over 50%
Look at the graphs at http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/category/graph/
which presents the data in a clear unbiased way. You can then decide whether or not the statement is justified.

Answer 3

I'm not certain where you get your facts, but that sounds like stuff I hear on the FOX NOISE NETWORK... and it's bull.

The simple fact of the matter is, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer... you only need to see the prices the rich paid for old cars on the Barrett-Jackson auction and compare that with the FACT that personal debt is higher than ever because so many people are now living on their credit cards, which they can no longer pay off.

As a personal matter, I am 67 and I remember when I first graduated from college I was making $15,000 a year as Electrical Engineer... and that was considered VERY good money in 1961.

I could buy a gallon of gas for $0.19 a loaf of bread for a dime, a hamburger and fries for a quarter and a motel room for $5, and a 1961 Chevy. convertable with every option for $4000.

The thing is, I was considered MIDDLE CLASS... and I was. To be that 'middle class today' I would have to make $150,000 a year.JUST TO KEEP EVEN.

I get tired of all this nonsense people who don't KNOW how to figure percentages put out about how such and such is x percent more or less without being able to either put a REAL figure on it or compute it theirselves is they HAD the figures... nope... it's easier to just parrot some percentage nonsense from a source such as FOX NOISE and spout it out there for the gullible.

Take your mis-information elsewhere... because I don't believe you... any more than I belive Bush OR his official mouthpiece FOX NOISE.

Answer 4

I dont thinks its really a shrinking of middle class, but more of a widening of the gap between the middle class and the upper class. i think the rich have income growth thats much greater then the income growth of the middle class. its the widening of the gap thats the concern cause its getting harder for the middle class to catch the upper class.

Answer 5

ok, now from that parent, subtract: entire mastercard stability taxes loan 2.5 vehicle price record intense value of gas tochronic those 2.5 SUVs insurance Any pupil loans month-to-month costs groceries etc etc etc If people ought to study a thanks to stay interior their ability, they could be ok. yet, they're too busy retaining with the pals. what number of people available, in the experience that they lost their job immediately, must be able to secure their high quality of living? the middle type is in many cases an phantasm enable the thumbs down roll.....