…there’s a much bigger bait and switch here. Remember, the question is what’s happening to the middle class. Nobody questions the fact that America has grown richer over the past several decades. The question is whether that growing wealth has trickled down to ordinary families, or gone mainly to a small elite. Yet when Boudreaux and Perry invoke consumer data, it’s data for all households — in effect, mixing the top quintile (and the top 1 percent) with the middle class.

via Consumer Spending and Inequality Denial – NYTimes.com.

Related articles very much worth further exploration on this topic…

• Paul Krugman: What We Have Less Of – NYTimes.com (mgptpt.wordpress.com)
• Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality Is Holding Back The Recovery (mgptpt.wordpress.com)
• Paul Krugman: Inequality and Recovery – NYTimes.com (mgptpt.wordpress.com)
• The Hidden Prosperity of the Poor (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Joseph Stiglitz hits the income inequality nail on the head, by @DavidOAtkins (digbysblog.blogspot.com)
• Inequality: Krugman vs. Stiglitz (benjaminstudebaker.com)
• How much stock should we put in the Consumer Confidence report? (optionsanimal.com)