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> > Economic decline > The middle class is shrinking, but the upper and upper-middle is growing. Growing is size maybe, but the middle and lower classes are b

• Avicebron 2mo ago
  > Growing is size maybe, but the middle and lower classes are both getting much richer. This is an illusion caused by poor measurement. You can argue all you want about how much a pickup truck's safety/bell and whistles have improved, but from the 60s - 80s, a day laborer carpenter could purchase a new truck on a third of their salary. Now a truck that serves the same function is 1.5x their salary.
  • bko 2mo ago
    That's fair. Unfortunately regulatory standards have made cars increasingly expensive. China has trucks under 20k. Obama era fuel standards and other mandates made affordable new cars impossible and programs like cash for clunkers reduced used availability
    • ShinyLeftPad 2mo ago
      PRC subsidizes the hell out of all manufacturing. There are costs to that, like suppressing domestic consumption, weak labor protection, etc
  • boxed 2mo ago
    That's you being mislead by propaganda I'm pretty sure. The middle class could afford SOME things like houses easier yes. But then their cost of food for example way WAY higher. All in all, prices of cars have falled dramatically, while the cost of labor has gone up. Agatha Christies quote is apt: "I never imagined being so rich that I could afford a car, and never imagined being so poor I could not afford a maid". Things change. You have to look at the aggregate, and not cherry pick.