It isn&#x27;t at all groundbreaking, but we haven&#x27;t figured out how to apply the concept to society very well. Bertrand Russell&#x27;s 1932 essay on the topic has been discussed here before: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=6513765" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=6513765</a><p>What we need is an <i>inversion</i> of the &quot;diminishing marginal returns&quot; concept to permeate economic theory. Maybe some people just call that Keynesian theory?<p>I think the real takeaway isn&#x27;t about upper middle class versus regular middle class. Rather there is quite a lot of negative value &#x2F; lost opportunities by drawing the poverty line so low.