Middle Class Getting Richer

Read Great American Dream Machine by STEPHEN MOORE and LINCOLN ANDERSON December 21, 2005 Wall Street Journal (subscription required)

• “examining this data leaves no room for argument: The middle class has not been 'shrinking' or losing ground, it has been getting richer. For example, the Census data indicate that the income cutoff to be considered "middle class" has risen steadily. Back in 1967, the income range for the middle class (i.e., the middle-income quintile) was between $28,000 and $39,500 a year (in today's dollars).
• Now that income range is between $38,000 and $59,000 a year, which is to say that the middle class is now roughly $11,000 a year richer than 25 to 30 years ago.
• This helps explain why middle-income families can buy things like cable TV, air conditioning, DVD players, cell phones, second cars and so on, that were considered mostly luxury items for the rich in the 1950s and '60s.”