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The "middle class" is political code for people being materially comfortable yet obligated to be economically productive. Once upon a time, there was only an "
by dkarl 10y ago
The "middle class" is political code for people being materially comfortable yet obligated to be economically productive. Once upon a time, there was only an "upper class" that was sustained by existing wealth and a "lower class" where people had no wealth. Both of these classes were discordant with the American Dream. The "upper class" had no pressing need to work, and the "lower class" had little ability to produce or accumulate wealth. Therefore nothing good happened or ever could happen. Enter the middle class! The middle class is able to produce and accumulate wealth, but it cannot ever comfortably stop working. Finally society can exist and people's lives obtain meaning through harmony with the laws of economics.
- clairity 10y agonot sure if this is meant to be snarky, but taken at face value it's right on. you want an economy to be dynamically stable, and a working middle class does just that. it provides status and meaning for a larger share of economic participants than otherwise would happen, and that equates to economic stability (while greater wealth disparity leads to greater discontent). the US economy is currently spiraling away from that stability, as evidenced by our worsening gini coefficient over the past several decades.