Listen to Bernie and all you hear is that the Middle Class is taking it on the chin.
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“One of the major reasons why the middle class is collapsing is because of the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street.” |
True? Well, the data from Pew in the chart above seems to indicate so.
From 1971 through to 2015, the share of adults living in the Middle Class dropped from 61% to 50%. That’s 11 points or 16%.
Horrible!
But where are they going?
Well, if you look at the lowest income tier their ratio grew from 16% to 20%. That’s 4 points and 25%.
The lower tier also grew from 9 to … wait. It didn’t grow.
So, the Middle Class shrank 11 points since 1971 and only 4 – FOUR – of those points moved to the lowest tier. Where did the remaining 7 points go?
Well, the higher income tier grew from 10 to 12 points; 25%. And the highest? It grew from 4 to 9 points. The highest tier grew by 5 points; 125%!
Yes – there is a ‘war’ on the Middle Class – but the winners are those folks in the Middle Class!