"Almost all middle class people in America today still have really nice TVs, mobile phones, Internet, etc., which suggests that their standard of living is quit

"Almost all middle class people in America today still have really nice TVs, mobile phones, Internet, etc., which suggests that their standard of living is quite good in absolute terms. We should be looking at absolute terms, not relative terms." Absolute terms are meaningless in this context. It's like comparing a poor person living in Appalachia to an indigenous person living on a remote island. Does the Appalachian resident have a better standard of living ? Absolutely. Does it matter in the context of the US ? Absolutely not. Also, you conveniently leave out some of the largest symptoms of wealth inequality. It's not consumer goods that define our standard of living, it's things like: - Being able to pay for college without going into significant amounts of debt - Not living paycheck to paycheck and being able to save money each month - Eating well and not being forced to live on substandard food products that are extremely unhealthy - Being able to afford quality health insurance, and being able to afford the deductibles and co-pays associated with it - Being able to save up for a down-payment on a home, and then being able to afford to both pay the mortgage and keep the home in decent shape (new roof, water heater, furnace, etc.) - Being able to afford transportation that doesn't constantly break down and result in more unplanned expenses that one cannot afford - Being able to retire (if one wants to) - And, most importantly, not having to work 2 or 3 jobs and have quality free time that can be used to explore hobbies and/or better oneself