The flaw in this argument lies in this sentence: ...after all we eat mostly the same food and while he can fly first class that is not going to get him to the destination much faster than me in coach.
What makes you think that someone who is unemployed or making minimum wage, can afford to fly coach? Contrary to your implication, there are in fact people in the US living in shacks without running water, and their number is growing.
Wealth is created and destroyed, but it is a fact that the upper incomes have been growing faster than overall economic growth for many years now, while the middle and lower income levels have stagnated or regressed. We can argue why that is so, but it's clear that the top 1% are consuming a greater and greater share of an economic pie that is not keeping pace with their accumulation of wealth.
The point of the comment was that relative differences are decreasing, and the comment used anecdotal evidence to support the contention. I pointed out that the anecdotal observation was flawed. The definition of middle class itself is relative, and the current trend is downward toward poverty rather than upward toward business class.
What makes you think that someone who is unemployed or making minimum wage, can afford to fly coach? Contrary to your implication, there are in fact people in the US living in shacks without running water, and their number is growing.
Wealth is created and destroyed, but it is a fact that the upper incomes have been growing faster than overall economic growth for many years now, while the middle and lower income levels have stagnated or regressed. We can argue why that is so, but it's clear that the top 1% are consuming a greater and greater share of an economic pie that is not keeping pace with their accumulation of wealth.