Only someone working for the aei would describe $25k for a family as "middle-class". For reference, in 2014, the poverty line for a family is $23,850 [1]. You

Only someone working for the aei would describe $25k for a family as "middle-class". For reference, in 2014, the poverty line for a family is $23,850 [1]. You don't jump from poverty to middle-class. He then cites a paper by Meyer and Sullivan [2] which, amongst other things, argues that the poor shouldn't count because they get food stamps; the fraction of poor people with a/c doubled between 1981 and 1999 (I didn't realize you could eat A/C) more poor people have cars w/ power breaks and steering (I am surprised you can buy a car in the last decade w/o either of the above) etc etc -- the authors go on at length about how consumption rather than income should be a measure of poverty. Which is a classic, but stupid, argument. If you can barely afford rent, are living paycheck-to-paycheck, but now your apartment has a dishwasher, you are not better off. If your used car has power steering, it does not make you better off. Meanwhile, back over in reality, food insecurity continues to be a problem, the hours at minimum wage required to afford minimal housing in major metropolitan areas continue to rise far beyond possibility, etc etc. But this is what AEI is for -- to kick up confusion about reality in the service of conservatives and the rich. [1] http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/14poverty.cfm http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/14poverty.cfm [2] http://www.aei.org/files/2011/10/25/Material-Well-Being-Poor-Middle-Class.pdf http://www.aei.org/files/2011/10/25/Material-Well-Being-Poor...