<i>Isn&#x27;t it a good thing that people see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires?</i><p>No, because it implies that the only way to better your situation is not just to <i>do well</i>, but to get on top, and <i>make a killing.</i>  That is, literally: to have access to wealth and security that is (greatly) disproportionate to what most other have.<p>Which (by definition) is unobtainable, for the vast majority.  And which contributes to what we might call the &quot;hollowing out of the middle.&quot;  All structural factors (which others have cited as exacerbating factors to income equality in recent decades) aside -- the bottom line is that the middle class life not has not only come under pressure -- it just <i>isn&#x27;t valued</i> as a goal, or a position to have in society.<p><i>How is that any different than seeing yourself as a temporarily embarrassed rock star, or astronaut, or breakthrough scientist, or famous artist, or successful entrepreneur?</i><p>Nothing wrong with wanting to achieve something great.  If what interests you is the achievement in itself.<p>But if the only way out of poverty (or middle class stagnation) is to become a &quot;rock star&quot; of some form or another -- that suggests that something is very, very wrong with the incentive and reward structure in a society -- like ours -- that implicitly holds that value structure.