Middle class means being able to work your way up to not having to rely on work or pension to live.
If you’re working class, you don’t even have that option. You work until you’re so old you have to retire, no long sabbaticals in between or anything. You won’t go traveling the world to do soul searching. Your kids are either taking student loans or GI bills or just not going to college.
Middle class isn’t a 100k income in much of modern America though. Depending on location I’d say it’s more like 200k to 600k per household at minimum to be middle class. So yes, the middle class has shrunk considerably.
Middle class means being able to work your way up to not having to rely on work or pension to live.
If you’re working class, you don’t even have that option. You work until you’re so old you have to retire, no long sabbaticals in between or anything. You won’t go traveling the world to do soul searching. Your kids are either taking student loans or GI bills or just not going to college.
Middle class isn’t a 100k income in much of modern America though. Depending on location I’d say it’s more like 200k to 600k per household at minimum to be middle class. So yes, the middle class has shrunk considerably.