That sums up my observation. From what I have observed, people in the middle class are doing better than they ever have. I remember when people had one to two cars in a household, now people normally have one or more per person. People keep getting larger and larger homes filling them with more and more luxuries. My grandparents still like to say they are part of the lower class but they aren't. They can afford to go on trips to Europe or pretty much anywhere in the world. They can retire anytime they want, but they don't because they would be too bored without the farm. They like to say the tired old saying "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" yet they are able to buy newer and nicer cars more often, travel more, have more luxuries they never had before, eat out whenever they please, see any movies they want, etc. Back in the days that they want me to believe things were so perfect they were doing nowhere near as well as they are doing today.

The only cases I have seen where people have dropped from middle to lower class is following a death of the bread winner. In most of these cases, the problem can be resolved in a matter of two-four years as the other parent gets the training, education, or whatever necessary to get a good paying job. Other times, they have to make a very difficult but often necessary decision to relocate where there is work (a common problem where I was born and raised after the coal mine and printing plant shut down). The people that are still part of the real lower class that do not escape is a result of what you have described, Patrick. They depend on the government instead of picking themselves off the ground and putting in the effort.