3 ms·

The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground

24 points by kushti 11y ago

sharetea 11y ago
upper class increased from 29% to 49% from 1970 to today lower class decreased from 10% to 9% from 1970 to today that looks pretty good to me
- kushti 11y ago
  Have you read the article, by any chance?
- kristopolous 11y ago
  Are you claiming that 49% of people are upper class, as in earn over $145,000 in states where that's the cutoff such as Maryland and Alaska? Half the country earning at least $70/hr and employed full time. Really? Only 9% earn under $40k in those states? Can you cite something? I claim that it's more like 7% upper, 49% middle, 44% lower and not a world of $170,000 gas station attendants and $150,000 dishwashers.
- coldtea 11y ago
  Looks pretty out of touch with any reality to me... 49% upper class? Where did you get those bogus numbers? The actual numbers given (and even those skewed) are about 15%.
- colordrops 11y ago
  Those percentages are total income, not population. You've got it completely wrong.
  - johnm1019 11y ago
    this. here's the graph which clearly labels it as aggregate income. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_middle-class-01.png http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_m...
- JDDunn9 11y ago
  You misread the chart. It means the upper class' share of total income increased from 29% to 49%, while the middle class went from making 62% of all income, to 43%.
AlexB138 11y ago
> “middle-income” Americans are defined as adults whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the national median, about $42,000 to $126,000 annually in 2014 dollars for a household of three. $42k for a household of three seems very low to be considered middle-class. I suppose in rural areas that makes sense, but in most population centers that would be fairly impoverished.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- johnm1019 11y ago
  In fairness to the authors of the study, their challenge was to create one number for the entire country.
- kristopolous 11y ago
  Conceptually speaking, I think we generally understand what middle income means. People living plainly and comfortably who don't have lavish things or have to surmount debt to stay out of homelessness. I'm pretty surprised how high that number is. I live in Los Angeles. I have a one bedroom apt and a 10 year old car. I eat in, try to be thrifty, take trips a few times a year but stay in modest accommodations or couch surf. With tax, I'd need about 55k to support this lifestyle with zero savings. That's $26/hr fulltime - a number probably out of reach for the majority of the city workforce. I wonder how most people get by. I think people should openly discuss these things - you can't create a transparent open market of human capital if we can't culturally speak of how much we charge and get. Income disclosure is a method of self organizing towards a more equitable society.

24 points by kushti 11y ago

upper class increased from 29% to 49% from 1970 to today lower class decreased from 10% to 9% from 1970 to today that looks pretty good to me

kushti 11y ago
Have you read the article, by any chance?
kristopolous 11y ago
Are you claiming that 49% of people are upper class, as in earn over $145,000 in states where that's the cutoff such as Maryland and Alaska? Half the country earning at least $70/hr and employed full time. Really? Only 9% earn under $40k in those states? Can you cite something? I claim that it's more like 7% upper, 49% middle, 44% lower and not a world of $170,000 gas station attendants and $150,000 dishwashers.
coldtea 11y ago
Looks pretty out of touch with any reality to me... 49% upper class? Where did you get those bogus numbers? The actual numbers given (and even those skewed) are about 15%.
colordrops 11y ago
Those percentages are total income, not population. You've got it completely wrong.
- johnm1019 11y ago
  this. here's the graph which clearly labels it as aggregate income. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_middle-class-01.png http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_m...
JDDunn9 11y ago
You misread the chart. It means the upper class' share of total income increased from 29% to 49%, while the middle class went from making 62% of all income, to 43%.

AlexB138 11y ago

> “middle-income” Americans are defined as adults whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the national median, about $42,000 to $126,000 annually in 2014 dollars for a household of three. $42k for a household of three seems very low to be considered middle-class. I suppose in rural areas that makes sense, but in most population centers that would be fairly impoverished.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
johnm1019 11y ago
In fairness to the authors of the study, their challenge was to create one number for the entire country.
kristopolous 11y ago
Conceptually speaking, I think we generally understand what middle income means. People living plainly and comfortably who don't have lavish things or have to surmount debt to stay out of homelessness. I'm pretty surprised how high that number is. I live in Los Angeles. I have a one bedroom apt and a 10 year old car. I eat in, try to be thrifty, take trips a few times a year but stay in modest accommodations or couch surf. With tax, I'd need about 55k to support this lifestyle with zero savings. That's $26/hr fulltime - a number probably out of reach for the majority of the city workforce. I wonder how most people get by. I think people should openly discuss these things - you can't create a transparent open market of human capital if we can't culturally speak of how much we charge and get. Income disclosure is a method of self organizing towards a more equitable society.