[yummyfajitas]

I just don't see that this is what we are currently approaching with automation, etc, but rather huge poor masses and an middle class in decline.

Can you support claim with some facts?

Note that in our current society, it is easily possible to be both richer than the 1970's middle class (in absolute terms) and live a life of leisure. We apply the label "poor" to people who do this, but that's just an arbitrary label.

...beyond the basics, "needs" are themselves a social construct.

Yes, this is the game played by most people who complain about the "middle class in decline" or "increasing poverty". They increase the definition of "middle class" more rapidly than the living standards of the middle class actually increased, and then whine when reality hasn't met their artificial benchmark.

[batista]

>> I just don't see that this is what we are currently approaching with automation, etc, but rather huge poor masses and an middle class in decline.

> Can you support claim with some facts?*

Well, but how about just looking around you? Because arguing for obvious facts gets tiresome after a while.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/10/17/disturbing-statistics...

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-i...

http://www.businessinsider.com/22-statistics-that-prove-the-...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/30-statistics-th...

Yes, this is the game played by most people who complain about the "middle class in decline" or "increasing poverty". They increase the definition of "middle class" more rapidly than the living standards of the middle class actually increased, and then whine when reality hasn't met their artificial benchmark.

It's not a game --it's how society works. Definitions change according to the social reality. Would you consider YOURSELF middle class if you only had access to what a '50's middle class family had? A 1920's one?

[yummyfajitas]

According to your third link, the household wealth of the bottom 40% grew by 157% between 1989 and 2001, and the middle 20% had their wealth grow by 200%.

The majority of your links focused solely on relative measures, not absolute ones (i.e., the incomes of the poor grew more slowly than the rich).

Want to try again?

Would you consider YOURSELF middle class if you only had access to what a '50's middle class family had? A 1920's one?

Hmm, ok, I'll choose my own arbitrary definition of middle class - it involves flying cars, robots and spaceships. No one meets my definition in the present era. In contrast, 20 years ago, when I defined "middle class" as stone knives and bear skins, everyone in the US was middle class.

Oh no, we are all so poor, something must be done!