California’s middle-class families — once 60 percent of families in the state — have lost ground, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Only 49.7% are middle class, earning $44,000 to $155,000 a year, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, which dubs it “Recession’s Toll.”
Woe is . . . Wait a second! The graph shows a sharp rise in upper-income families. Since 2007, their share has grown from 5.5% to 13.7%. The share of low-income families has grown slightly from 33.9% to 36.6%.
That suggests most of the “lost” middle class climbed up the economic ladder.
The poor are even poorer, concludes the PPIC. Earnings are down 21 percent for families in the lowest bracket. But low-income people don’t suffer more because other people are well-off. In fact, the 13.7% can give more to charities to help the 36.9%. The 49.7% should kick in too. We’re doing OK.
Are the income brackets adjusted for inflation?
Percentages in a vacuum are meaningless; they must be anchored to and analyzed in the context of real numbers, which are conspicuously absent.
Your conclusion that the middle class moved up can’t be justified by the data presented here or in the article, and the article’s conclusion that the middle class is moving down also can’t be justified.
Based on the stats presented, it’s equally valid to conclude middle income folks simply left CA in droves.
The two-class system, Barry style, is kicking in — especially in welfare-happy California, where you have to be rich to survive there. It won’t last long, once the wealthy are gone. So who’s destroying the middle class?