“When the rich get richer, the poor get richer as well.” –Peter Lynch
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And Drew Carey can back that up:
(H/T: SayAnything)
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The middle class shrinks while the “upper class” doubles in size. Economist Stephen Rose: What’s (Not) the Matter With the Middle Class?
- $63,300. That’s the 2004 median household income of people in their prime working years, ages 25-59 (it’s $70,000 for married households and nearly $80,000 for two-earner households).
- $248,700. That’s the median net worth of pre-retirement Americans, ages 55-64.
- Zero. That’s the median credit card debt for all American households.
Drowning in debt? Squeezed to the gills? Living paycheck to paycheck? I don’t think so…
It’s true that the middle class is shrinking — but that’s because more families are better off. The share of prime-age adults in households with real incomes above $100,000 rose by 13.1 percentage points from 1979 to 2004. The share of households making less than $75,000 dropped by 14 percent. Fully 41 percent of prime-age American adults are in households with incomes above $75,000.
Among married-couple households the picture is even brighter. In 2004, the median income for these households was $70,000, and $78,000 for couples with two earners.
(H/T: George Will)