Scott Alexander

Shavakulrod writes, quote, Scott, have you read Mike Green's viral post on this?

His main argument is that the poverty line is miscalculated, but in context of declining middle class sentiments...

The more interesting thesis is that there exists a valley of death, in quotes, where two parents in the workforce need a combined around $140,000 salary, otherwise the cumulative participation costs of a fast modern society, for example a phone plan or childcare, make year-over-year capital accumulation near impossible.

End quote.

Scott writes, I haven't, but other commenters suggest reading responses, including Noah Smith's

the $140,000 poverty line is very silly, Jeremy Holpendahl's, the poverty line is not $140,000, and Tyler Cohen's, the myth of the $140,000 poverty line.

Most of these focus on Green's explicit errors.

For example, he gets most of his cost of living numbers from Essex, New Jersey, and especially Rich County, then compares them to average earnings.

Correct half a dozen things like this, and the real poverty line is probably somewhere between $35,000 to $60,000.

The percent of Americans below this line continues to decline every year, as it has for decades.

Green finally pseudo-apologized, lambasting the mockery machine of the cognitive elite, but admitting that his post, quote, was never intended to go viral and was written for my existing audience that tends to be pretty understanding that I don't do this for a living, but rather as part of my living, end quote.

Still, many people took Green's article as a starting point to contribute to the Vibe Session discourse, so let's go over the ones that touch on our topic in more detail.

Lindsicombe titles his response, The $140,000 poverty line is wrong, so why does it feel right?

And blames Baumol's cost disease.

Quote, As the Financial Times' John Burns Murdoch just detailed, Americans' overall cost of living has improved over time, but certainly highly visible and socially desirable services have become more expensive.

That's not a conspiracy against the middle class, but instead just Baumol at work.

Here's a quote.

End quote.

The commenter continues, End quote.

As we've all gotten richer, moreover, these services have transitioned from luxuries to expectations.