However, almost no member of today's middle class has one-third of his or her income left for discretionary income. This group is currently being hammered by something called the middle-class squeeze—a situation in which increases in wages fail to keep up with inflation for middle-income earners. At the same time, the phenomenon fails to have a similar impact on the top wage earners. Add to that the fact that much of the supposed middle class's wealth has come from assuming debt and home equity calculations that were more ink than real money.
