American middle-class, not the richest anymore

The US middle-class is no longer the richest social class in the world as the Canadians have taken over at the top of the wealthiest median families list.

After reaching an after-tax-income of $75,000 for a family of four in 2010, at that point equal to the income of their American competitors, the Canadians have now gained the reign as the richest middle class families on a global scale.

Despite the fact that US still is the richest large country overall, rising income inequalities have given other countries the opportunity to catch up with the American middle class and close the gap between family income.

Moreover, comparing the general growth of income in countries like Holland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada, to that of the US income, the latter is left behind at a fair distance.

Harvard economist Lawrence Katz states that ‘the idea that the median American has so much more income than the middle class in all other parts of the world is not true these days. In 1960, we were massively richer than anyone else. In 1980, we were richer. In the 1990s, we were still richer.’

The case is not true anymore, unfortunately, for the Americans. They will have to get used to the fact that the American middle-class is not the way it was portrayed during the ‘60s and throughout the ‘70, anymore.