Dream Hoarders How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It

Richard V. Reeves

eAudio - 2017

America is becoming a class-based society.It is now conventional to focus on the wealth of the top 1 percent—especially the top 0.01 percent—and how the ultrarich are concentrating income and prosperity, while incomes for most other Americans are stagnant. But the most important, consequential, and widening gap in American society is between the upper-middle class and everyone else.Reeves defines the upper-middle class as those whose incomes are in the top 20 percent of American society. Income is not the only way to measure a society, but in a market economy it is crucial because access to money generally determines who gets the best-quality education, housing, health care, and other necessary goods and services.As Reeves shows, the gr...owing separation between the upper-middle class and everyone else can be seen in family structure, neighborhoods, attitudes, and lifestyle. Those at the top of the income ladder are becoming more effective at... more