Wall Street Journal says: The middle class is becoming upper class — if you believe that.

The Wall Street Journal is simply wrong about the “disappearing” middle class.Not because the data is fake — but because the framing is deeply misleading.

In a January 11, 2026 Wall Street Journal editorial titled “About That ‘Disappearing’ Middle Class,” the Editorial Board argues that the middle class is hollowing out mainly because more households are moving upward into higher income brackets. According to this view, what looks like decline is actually progress.

That claim sounds reassuring. It is also incomplete.

Here is what the editorial argues:

• The shrinking middle class reflects upward mobility, not economic distress

• Inflation-adjusted incomes are higher than in past decades

• Rising inequality is largely a by product of growth

• Public pessimism about the economy is overstated

This argument is internally consistent. But it rests on a narrow definition of economic well-being.

Here is what it misses.

First, income is not purchasing power.Middle-class life is not defined by nominal income, but by access to essentials: housing, healthcare, education, insurance, and stability. These costs have risen faster than wages for decades. A household can earn more and still be economically weaker.

Second, mobility is asymmetric.Upward mobility is slow, selective, and cumulative. Downward mobility is fast and common. One shock — rent increases, medical bills, job loss — can push households down. The income distribution does not simply shift upward; it stretches. The middle thins because pressure from below is stronger than pull from above.

Third, risk has been privatized.Markets have become more flexible, but social protections have weakened. Individuals now absorb risks once shared by firms, insurers, or the state. This is not “free markets working efficiently”; it is an imbalance between capitalism and insurance.

Fourth, essential sectors increasingly behave like rent systems.Healthcare, insurance, housing, and education capture growing shares of income without proportional productivity gains. That erodes middle-class security regardless of headline income growth.

So the real question is not:“Are people earning more?”

It is:

• How much discretionary income remains after essentials?

• How resilient are households to shocks?

• How fast can people fall compared to how fast they can rise?

• Who bears risk — firms, markets, or families?

The middle class is not disappearing because everyone is getting richer.It is eroding because economic stability is declining.

Growth without security is not prosperity.And an economy that celebrates averages while ignoring fragility is misreading itself.

Thoughtful disagreement welcome.