This is an utterly deluded perspective that maybe only applies in hyper-regulated, to borrow from one below comment, "hellscapes" like NYC an SF. And maybe not

This is an utterly deluded perspective that maybe only applies in hyper-regulated, to borrow from one below comment, "hellscapes" like NYC an SF. And maybe not even then. A median house is $400k (and yes, it's located near a job, probably a median job). A payment on that is <$2k after recent rate increases. Changing cars every 2 years is dumb and maybe made sense when cars were much lower quality, but still, median new car is what, $30-40k? How much is median, decent college, e.g. an in-state university? In most of the country, $200k is not middle class indeed - it's "rich". Real /median/ household income is still on "relentless rise": https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N Middle class "shrinking": https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/middleclass1.png?x91208 https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/middleclass1.... To counter other left-wing delusions implied in this post, housing-to-income ratio is long-term almost flat, until the recent inflation: https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/ https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-inco... I am not sure if they adjust by size, as median house size has also increased by a lot over this time; if they don't it understates the modestly of the housing price increases. Government spending as %% of GDP is constantly growing, or at most flat in good times: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYONGDA188S And social services as %% of that are growing, too: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/04/what-does-the-federal-government-spend-your-tax-dollars-on-social-insurance-programs-mostly/ft_17-04-03_budget_420px/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/04/what-does-t...