Reply #81: I haven't seen any recent numbers for the size of the middle class. [View All]

[Igel]

Last ones I saw were from 2004 or so, and they showed the middle class shrinking precipitously. This got a lot of publicity and sort of set the frame--since then it's been standard fare that the middle class has been shrinking. It's also been standard fare that for those moving out of the middle class the situation is truly, truly dire because the only place they could go was down.

Of course, the infamous chart of the relative proportion of the middle class in US society also also showed the numbers of those below the middle class were shrinking or holding steady. In an innumerate society headed by an innumerate press corps and political class the unambiguous implication was, of course, diligently overlooked.

Then again, my psych textbook authoritatively stated that the definition of obese was having your BMI at the 95th percentile or above for when when compared to those in your age/sex cohort, and then scandalously indicated that 16% (or was it 19%?) of teenagers fell into that category. Then the writer moved on, oblivious to the fact he just said that 16% of teenagers were in the top 5%. You'd expect a prominent psychologist and researcher to know at least some statistics.