this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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If one paycheck is all that stands between half of the people and homelessness, can it really be called the "middle" class?
There was an article with a pretty compelling argument a while ago that basically said the true poverty line in the US is over 100.000$/year family income (when you look at what that number was originally supposed to measure). Below that you're getting fucked left and right.
Every dollar a family earns between 40k and 100k makes them poorer, because it triggers benefit losses (like health care & child care) that exceed income gains.
So what the US reports as "the middle class" are actually the working poor
It's helpful to divorce class from simple material wealth, and return to how we engage with production and distribution. The true "middle class" is the small business owner, in reality most people are working class.
Yeah cuz the lower class don't get paid at all. Homelessness is rampant all over the states
Nor even "the working class".
The precariat.
Middle: in between homelessness and millionaires
Median class? Mode class?