Half the world's population is now middle class or richer

[Snoopy]

fatslob-:O said:

danasider said:

To be fair, straight capitalism in the US has caused this country's richest class to grow and its middle class to shrink. If this number (in the OP) means anything (and it sounds like it is not very representative of the individual economies), it grew because of a communist country with a capitalist outlook: China.

A mix is probably best: socialism with capitalism for instance. Straight capitalism has led to a country with the most billionaires and a middle class that's been shrinking for 30 plus years while the lower class grows daily.

The shrinking American middle class is not a problem ... 

In fact, many of those American middle class are getting promoted to a higher income bracket ... 

The middle class isn't shrinking because of the so called myth that the "rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" but it's because much of the former middle class is too rich to be defined as middle class. Straight capitalism may have created more inequality but it's a system that created the most and 2nd most competitive economy in the world. Socialism is dysfunctional because it lacks the means of evolution and we don't have to look much further than an example such as Europe's labour policies where it's visibly losing ground in productivity compared to East Asia ... 

This. The gap between the rich and middle class is bigger, but the middle class is improving as well. Things are also becoming cheaper for us overall when it isn't heavily regulated by the government. That's why education and health care is going through the roof right now in costs.