The good news about economic mobility in America

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If you read the headlines, it's easy to be discouraged about the American economy. If you follow the trend lines, it's difficult not to be more optimistic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the Consumer Price Index was 3.3 percent in March. That was a 0.9 percentage point increase over the 2.4 percent inflation rate in February. The cause is obvious.

The war with Iran may result in a significant foreign policy victory. Devastating Iran's nuclear capabilities is essential, as is maintaining the Strait of Hormuz as a functional international waterway. But there has been a domestic cost to the conflict. Gasoline prices have soared as Iran's regime seeks to survive by creating economic pain in the United States and the West. The country's shadow leaders hope this will cause Trump to back off with the midterm elections looming. But underestimating U.S. resolve doesn't appear to be a winning strategy.

Talk of a languishing economy and "affordability" have rekindled concerns that America's middle class now struggles to survive and get ahead. Politicians from both parties regularly bemoan America's "shrinking" middle class. That's true in a sense, but it leaves a misleading impression.

This year, the American Enterprise Institute published a study on the upper-middle class. The review highlighted an interesting yet consistently overlooked reality: The middle class has shrunk because people are getting richer, not poorer.

"The upper-middle class boomed from 10 percent of families in 1979 to 31 percent in 2024, and its share of income doubled," study authors Stephen Rose and Scott Winship found. "The share of families whose income left them short of the core middle class fell from 54 percent to 35 percent."

This is exceedingly positive news about American social mobility. And there's more good news.

"Median hourly wages among men age 25–54 were up 6–25 percent between 1979 and 2023, and median annual earnings of men who worked year-round were up 13–33 percent," the study found.

These facts fly in the face of the class warfare arguments put forward by prominent progressives. Sen. Bernie Sanders built his political brand by attacking the wealthy. Blue states are seeking new ways to tax the well-off. It is true that those at the top of the income scale have also done very well over the past four decades. But their gains didn't prevent others from moving up.

This is because the market economies don't redistribute existing wealth; they create more for everyone. That doesn't mean there won't be challenges to overcome — both as a nation and for individuals. But if America maintains her free market principles, ever more people will join the upper-middle class in the decades to come.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• Tuning out as politicians wallow in the gutter
• Iran rolls the dice if they underestimate US resolve
• The incredible shrinking Department of Education
• There's no constitutional right to sodas paid for by SNAP
• Kent's grandstanding claims don't withstand scrutiny
• Antiquated law only exacerbates energy price shocks
• A federal fiscal fog envelops Washington, DC
• Trump wants Iranians to rise up --- will they?
• Incentives matter when it comes to food stamp reforms
• Interest rate cap a price control by another name
• Congress should get moving on Russian sanctions bill
• Attacking irresponsible student loan policies
• Trump's broadband moves save billions
• Blue states learn a lesson
• Prez makes headway on smaller federal workforce
• Blue states shouldn't resist fight against food-stamps fraud
• Nothing is free --- Bill to extend 'temporary' subsidies fails
• America needs more people who work with their hands
• Free speech case should be an easy call for High Court
• The national debt is America's hoarding problem
• Renewables will benefit from walking on their own
• Dems keep cozying up to NYC's Mamdani
• Dems keep cozying up to NYC's Mamdani
• Your tax dollars at work --- The EV charger debacle
• Socialism leads to much worse things than expensive food
• Able-bodied Medicaid recipients must work? Oh, my!
• SCOTUS --- Trump likely to 'succeed' in restructuring case
• NYC Dems back 'communist lunatic' for mayor
• Gender-treatment ruling hardly a definition of tyranny
• High court not as divided as lib critics might think
• Carbon, crops for cows and the Colorado River
• OOPS! Blue states finding 'free' health care can get expensive
• Extend the president's 2017 income tax reform bill
• Extend the president's 2017 income tax reform bill
• The Left's hypocrisy on the plight of Gazan civilians
• Trump's tariff pause presents an opportunity
• Trump ruffles feathers on elections
• Chuck Schumer wants more of your hard-earned money
• GOP must rediscover importance of judicial review
• And about those Medicaid 'cuts'
• White House transparency should extend to records
• Credit card bill will hurt those it's supposed to help
• Socialism surprise? Universal basic income fails yet another test
• The irony of the push for 'media literacy' in schools
• Revealing True Trump
• Biden Billions for virtually nothing
• Federal court puts an end to 'net neutrality' nonsense
• Dems still remain in deep denial over election defeat
• Syria's dictator falls victim to Hamas' grave miscalculation
• Gerrymandering for me, but not for thee
• Many seeds sowed Trump's return to the White House
• Harris-Biden again embolden Iran's proxy terrorists
• Kam can't run from Biden's many messes
• Courts rebuke Biden's Title IX rewrite
• Biden cover-up mirrors previous Dem efforts to deceive
• Irony alert: Biden warns Trump
• Stop hiding the Hur tapes
• The rich pay more than their 'fair share' of taxes
• 'Most predictable crisis' in history continuing as predicted
• Don't feed the pander-bear
• 'Grading for equity' leads to less learning
• Report again highlights need for entitlement reform
• Wage law is good news for . .. the robots
• Joe Biden should commit to presidential debates
• Biden tax plan would pummel average Americans
• Iran's brazen attack on Israel was 'utterly unsuccessful'
• More free stuff
• Biden proposes another massive spending spree
• Dems increasingly desperate over No Labels
• Biden hams it up during stemwinder
• Economies roar in red states
• To establish 'absolute tyranny over these States'
• Biden condemns himself in attack on shrinkflation
• If only Taylor Swift were dating the national debt
• Biden bows to Putin, environmentalists
• Defenders of 'democracy' want Voter ID off ballot
• 'No one is safe if they had any hand in' Oct. 7
• Biden infrastructure bill: A failure to launch
• US government revenues hit record highs
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Biden needs to stop the mixed messages
• The hating class as brave defenders
• Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists
• White House green Slush fund throwing around cash
• Biden immigration policies souring even Dems
• Dems fret as the bad news mounts for Biden
• Billions in coronavirus money still sitting around
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Chicago takes victim blaming to an absurd new low
• The utter failure of money to improve education
• Group identity drives American division
• The downside of Biden's drug price control scheme
• WARNING: Here's why top insurers are fleeing
• 'They even laughed in my face'
• Red states power Biden's economy
• 'If you have private insurance, you can' … OOPS!
• Ignoring the Bill of Rights when its convenient
• Hunter cops a plea --- but the Biden probes continue
• Will we every truly know the depth of pandemic fraud?
• Hello there, Big Brother! Please, come right in
• Its not perfect, but it's a start on immigration reform
• IRS wants to branch out
• Gas stove ban conspiracy theory comes true
• Biden's busy bureaucrats beef up regulatory state
• Don't even dare think of emulamating New Yawk!
• Where have all the nation's college students gone?
• Soft-on-crime policies hit hard wall of political reality
• Joe Biden and Monty Python is no comedy
• Global warming was supposed to wreak havoc on polar bears. Looks like someone forgot to tell the polar bears