If it takes more than $126,000 to fund a qualitatively defined middle-class lifestyle, what sense does it even make to call this “middle”? The Pew Research Center’s recent report The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground: No longer the majority and falling behind financially made a media splash, as it reported that less than 50% of adults are members of the Great American Middle Class. My analysis suggests that by more qualitative measures, no more than a third of U.S. households qualify as middle class: claiming 49% of the nation’s households are still middle class is a gross exaggeration. My … Continue reading Honey, I Shrunk the Middle Class