It's been said over and over that these people compare themselves to the people on the next rung up and conclude that they're not wealthy. I think it says somet

It's been said over and over that these people compare themselves to the people on the next rung up and conclude that they're not wealthy. I think it says something about nature of the bubbles we live in that this delusion isn't dashed organically. Gig delivery takes me down a lot of roads I wouldn't normally go down, dropping off Taco Bell and Outback and ColdStone to apartments and townhouses and tract homes and McMansions. In a previous life, I likely welcomed some of their owners and renters to [big box retailer]. It's difficult (and bad for sales numbers) to try to determine who is who; they're all shopping at the same places, ordering many of the same products. The differences in circumstances and means show themselves in private arenas where wealthy people aren't likely to encounter how the other half lives. So, when the McMansion-dwellers see the townhome- and apartment-dwellers, it's on "equal" ground. But it's important to remember that this is by design - partly their design. All of this to say, wealthy people are unreliable arbiters of their standing. Either they're blissfully unaware, or purposely crafted their situation (and implicitly must benefit from the surface-level seeming lack of awareness).