MIDDLE CLASS EUROPEANS comparable to poor Americans.

In 2010, for instance, the median household income in Mississippi (in 2011 inflation-adjusted dollars) was $37,838; the equivalent in Maryland was $70,976. By comparison, the average Italian household took home $35,608 that year, while a middle-income Norwegian household earned a median income of $56,960. Put another way: average households in states like Maryland, Connecticut, or Massachusetts are richer than those in Norway, Denmark, or the Netherlands, while residents of Mississippi or West Virginia are better off than the Spaniards and Italians.

For all the talk about rising inequality and a shrinking middle class, then, we Americans should count our blessings: when it comes to disposable income, you are still better off living in Mississippi than Italy.

Indeed.