What Liberals Get Wrong About the Middle Class

By Stephen J. Rose and Scott Winship

Mr. Rose and Mr. Winship are labor economists.

It’s a common refrain: The middle class is hollowing out; Americans overall are increasingly falling short financially while a few are getting exceedingly rich. There’s even a scoreboard of inequality. We’ve persuaded ourselves that many families can no longer achieve the American middle-class dream the way their parents once did. It’s a political hot button, too — both parties claim to be fighting to preserve Middle America.

But there’s another, much better way the middle class can shrink — when everyone moves up and gets richer. A........

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