Normally I would point out that income doesn't mean much, that we should focus on wealth instead... But the modern global economy is so bubbly that as soon as e

Normally I would point out that income doesn't mean much, that we should focus on wealth instead... But the modern global economy is so bubbly that as soon as enough people retire or decide to actually start spending their money, most of that nominal wealth will quickly evaporate and so it's not really meaningful either. The problem now is that a huge amount people who think of themselves as wealthy are thinking in nominal dollar terms, but there are so many of such people today, and they're so conformist in their investment and lifestyle choices that when they retire (likely all at the approximately same time, in approximately the same way), there is no way that the real economy will be able to support their retirement without driving up salaries/incomes and inflation. Economic conformity is fragility.