Money

Why the Rich Love To Pretend They’re Middle Class

Nobody wants to admit they’re rich or poor

Michelle Teheux
Minds Without Borders
6 min readDec 30, 2022

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Photo by Ann on Unsplash

I’ve been middle class and I’ve been poor and middle class is better.

I’ve never been rich and don’t expect to ever be.

I assume it’s nice.

In the U.S., almost everyone claims to be middle class.

If you say you’re poor, it’s widely believed you’re stupid and/or lazy, even though you’re probably working your ass off at more than one badly paid job. So it’s not surprising that so many people prefer to identify themselves as middle class rather than admit they’re poor.

But unless they are actual billionaires, most rich people like to claim they are middle class.

Isn’t that odd?

We live in a time when we essentially worship the rich. So why do people who are quite wealthy continue to pretend to be middle class?

You must have noticed how many people, even including those who live a conspicuously luxurious lifestyle, will tell you they are middle class.

They’ll do it with a straight face, too.

I have a theory.

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Michelle Teheux
Minds Without Borders

Lover of literature. Former newspaper editor. Fascinated by everything. Contact: michelleteheux@gmail.com. To buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/michelleteheux