It's possible this reflects less economic reality than demand, that it's less about middle class existence than middle class spending — e.g., many middle class are still focusing on bargain brands / outlets to make their dollars go further (esp. post-recession), while some are willing to go (back further) into debt to avoid bourgeois Olive Gardens in favor of somewhat more upscale Capitol Grilles.
But its still an interesting trend.
Reshared post from +Yonatan Zunger
What I like about this article is the straightforwardness of the numbers. Most statistics you hear about politically charged topics like the economy are suspect, because their purveyor (or publisher) has a horse in the race: they want to show how well the economy is doing, how badly it's doing, how much or little inequality there is or would be under their proposed plans, and so on.
But if you go over to things like clothing retailers, appliance retailers, restaurant chains, and so on, they don't have the luxury of screwing around with political statistics. They need to actually know what is going on with people if they want to remain solvent — which means the statistics they use to make their purchasing decisions had damned well better be accurate.
And what we find is unsurprising, although the details are quite interesting. Essentially, the "mid-range" of various business sectors is collapsing; people are either buying discount goods (the cheapest possible) or luxury goods. Traditional things aimed at the middle of the middle class — be it mid-range restaurants like the Olive Garden or Red Lobster, mass-market (as opposed to high-end) appliances from GE, or discount sellers of high-end clothing like Loehman's — simply aren't selling, and haven't been for a while.
The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World.
The post-recession reality is that the customer base for businesses that appeal to the middle class is shrinking as the top tier pulls even further away.
“as the top tier pulls even further away”
Funny. In my opinion, this hollowing-out has actually been going on since the early 80’s, when it suddenly seemed as if every business in the country was trying to go “upscale”. Except that back then it seemed more like one of those business fads driven by management and now it’s clearly driven by lack of demand. It’s been my impression that the trend was cause as well as effect, part of the glorification of the wealthy, money uber alles. But maybe it was more just chasing where the money was going.