Disappearing Middle Class?

I'd be interested in how that study adjusted to 2016 dollars...I would've thought that the inflationary pressures of everyone (collectively) having more $$$ would push someone backwards.

I couldn't find this most recent one from the source but did find one from 2015 (thru 2014 data) that has some context.
http://www.aei.org/publication/charts-of-the-day-another-look-at-how-americas-middle-class-is-disappearing-into-higher-income-households/

The point of the chart isn't that the middle class isn't shrinking it's that more people are moving upwards.  If it's >$250k then that's even better because it's a percentage of households that are in that category.

I know the left likes to puppet that the rich are getting richer, but really everybody is getting richer according to the US Census.  Also, it's not "AEI data", it's US Census Data that AEI put in the graph.  Do you believe the US Census data is incorrect, or that they incorrectly graphed the US Census data?

No question income inequality exists, but I like to think about what is the real root cause.  My theory is that we have a government that is all too willing to "help" everyone get ahead.  We set up regulations that enable corporations to export labor and manufacturing to "help" them and then we give welfare to those who are now unemployed to "help" them.  Then we guarantee hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans to "help" kids get degree's that barely make minimum wage.  Then we "help" them by mandating that they pay for healthcare out of pocket if they make too much money, etc...

I think you're seeing a pattern in my theory.  Every time the government tries to help they end up hurting the very people they're trying to "help".

There of course needs to be some regulation, but we are so regulated as a country that our government makes it very difficult to succeed.
I own a business and I'm doing everything I can to stay under 50 employees because my life will be a living hell the day I hire the 50th employee and it's because of nobody but the government.  The government also has a ton of regulations in place to restrict banks from lending money to businesses such as my own.  This also hurts my growth ability.

I could go on and on, but the government is the number one reason for 95% of our economic woes as a nation.  The solution is most certainly not "more government". 

lol, I think we can both agree on that.   

Government should have a role in combating *other* governments... I think we can agree the U.S. trade relationship with China is anything but balanced right now.  Our government gets lobbied by big business to lower trade barriers even if it means selling the farm.  China on the other hand, with their one party system, tends to make longer term strategic moves.  We need to start playing the game that way, IMO.

No, it's just that everyone's dollars have less buying power.

If and only if you include investments.  If it's only wages then a flat tax = middle class tax.

The "adjustment" should, uh, adjust, for that.  Or so I would think.  That was the point of my question/comment.  If those dollars have less buying power now because of inflation, then they're not comparing apples to apples.

If it helps, we can draw a different graph showing absolutely no change over 50 years.  

High-Income = top 33.3% earners each year
Middle-Class = middle 33.3% earners each year
Low-Income = bottom 33.3% earners each year.  

Or we could use a Normal distribution with 16% "high income" 68% "middle class" and 16% low income.  

Or we could simply split it down the middle with 50% high income and 50% low income and eliminate the middle class entirely.  

Instead, we probably have some entirely arbitrary definitions about the 3 classes changing over the 50 years shown.  

Good point.  I read something years ago that was poking at how nobody can define what the "middle class" really is.  

Things have definitely changed a lot over the past 100 years.  I sit and think about what it took to make the equivalent of millions of dollars 100 years ago and you'd have to build a pretty substantial business with many people and buildings, etc.  Today a High School kid can program a stupid phone app in his bedroom and sell it for $1 on the App store and make tens of millions of dollars without ever hiring a person. 

Heck, my entire business is providing IT products and support to businesses.  25 years ago my industry was pretty much non-existent.