Americans Lose Faith That Hard Work Leads to Economic Gains, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds

I think the problem is the loss of the middle class. The ones on top getting a lot of the resources while the rest have to fight for whatever is left. It doesn't matter how hard or how smart you work.

I think you sum up the type of despair people feel pretty well.

It's really more helpful to look at "middle class or better." Because yes, the middle class has shrunk. But more of that share went to the UPPER income tiers.

The middle class went from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2023. But the lower income brackets saw a +3% change while upper saw +8%.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/economy/the-incredible...

>The ones on top getting a lot of the resources while the rest have to fight for whatever is left.

There simply is not a static pool of resources.

We still have a middle class, it just starts at a net worth of about 20 million. and Upper class starts at around a billion now.

> There simply is not a static pool of resources.

Economists and rich people indeed think in terms of scarce resources. Any economics book will tell you that it is about managing scarce resources. Rich people will never allow for example the government to give increasingly more money and resources to lower income people, because they fear there's note enough for them. They don't believe in abundance for everyone.

Scarce yes.

Static, no.

Being "middle class" is a mindset, not a category of wealth. It's something of an anachronism from when there were two distinct classes: nobility/clergy, and the peasants. The middle class, the bourgeoisie (because they lived it towns, bourgs) didn't fit into either existing class. One can be wealthy or poor and still be middle class. Social conformity, infinitely expandable material demand, and emphasis on external, impersonal values are the hallmarks of this mindset.

If it's not static and it grows, then it cannot be scarce, unless you have a group that is always taking more of existing resources.

>If it's not static and it grows, then it cannot be scarce

Elaborate? Scarcity means demand for the resources exceeds the available supply. There is essentially unlimited human wants and only finite resources. The resource quantity can grow but it will never meet demand. Even if all growth goes to the people with less resources, the resources will still be scarce.