The Rich Rise as the Middle Class Fights to Survive
Parmeshwar Patel | May 23, 2025, 19:30 IST
( Image credit : Freepik )
Highlight of the story: As the rich accumulate more wealth through assets and favorable policies, the middle class faces rising costs, stagnant wages, and shrinking opportunities. This article explores the growing economic divide, its mental and emotional toll, and why meritocracy feels like a myth. It urges systemic change and support for the middle class to restore balance, dignity, and hope in society.
Step outside your door and look around. Luxury cars cruise past worn-out scooters. Sky-high towers rise behind neighborhoods where rent eats half the income. Designer brands sell out in minutes while families debate over grocery budgets.
The question almost asks itself: Are the rich still getting richer while the middle class sinks further into survival mode?
The short answer? Yes.
The long answer? It's more complicated and far more human than you think.
In 1980, the richest 10% held 60% of global income.Today, they hold 76%, while the poorest half owns just 2% of global wealth.In India, the top 1% grabbed 40.1% of the country’s wealth in 2023. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% shared just 3% among themselves.
This isn’t just numbers. This is someone skipping meals so their child can go to school. This is a salaried worker giving up dreams of owning a home. This is the gut-wrenching silence when an unexpected medical bill arrives.
Middle-class wealth is built on wages. Rich people build wealth on assets: stocks, real estate, businesses. Over the last two decades, wages have stagnated while assets have skyrocketed in value.
For example:
The average salary in many cities has remained flat.Meanwhile, property prices and stock markets have doubled, even tripled.If you earn a paycheck, your wealth grows linearly. If you own, your wealth grows exponentially.
Inflation doesn’t hurt everyone the same. While the rich can adjust lifestyles or shift investments, the middle class can't opt out of food, rent, fuel, or school fees.
And when inflation rises:
Savings get devalued.Loans become costlier.Essentials eat into discretionary income.For someone with ₹10 lakh in savings, a 7% inflation rate quietly erases ₹70,000 of its value every year.
Despite perceptions, the super-rich often pay lower effective tax rates than middle-class earners, thanks to capital gains, offshore accounts, and legal loopholes.
A salaried employee might pay 20–30% in taxes.A billionaire may pay less, proportionally, because of favorable asset taxation.Tax laws weren’t always written with fairness in mind. They were written with power in the room.
Technology promised to democratize opportunity. But it also concentrated wealth like never before.
One viral app can mint billionaires overnight.Automation is eliminating mid-skill jobs while creating high-skill ones most can’t afford to train for.While Big Tech profits soared, job security shrank. Your neighborhood shop closed. But the delivery giant's stock hit record highs.
The same tools meant to “empower” have left millions overwhelmed, overworked, and underpaid.
Billionaires added $5 trillion to their net worth during the pandemic.Meanwhile, 100 million people slipped into extreme poverty.While the poor waited in food lines, the rich chartered private jets. The middle class lost jobs, homes, and peace of mind—many for the first time in their lives.
This wasn’t just a health crisis. It was a financial trauma—and the scars are still visible.
The middle class often carries the dream of upward mobility. When that dream collapses, so does mental well-being:
Anxiety over bills and EMIs.Guilt over not providing enough.Depression from social comparison.Silent suffering because “you’re not poor enough to complain.”When the economy squeezes the middle, the country doesn’t just lose consumption. It loses hope.
Education costs have soared.Housing is unaffordable in most cities.Stable jobs are vanishing.Side hustles are now survival tools.Young people are burned out before 30, not because they’re lazy—but because the ladder they were promised was never anchored to the ground.
Many still cling to the belief: “If you work hard, you’ll make it.”
But working 12-hour shifts, juggling two jobs, or freelancing endlessly is not the same as ownership or power.
The system rewards those with:
Early capital.Elite networks.Safety nets.Merit helps—but privilege gets you to the start line faster. And often, farther.
Yes but not without rethinking priorities as individuals, corporations, and governments.
Taxing extreme wealth and closing loopholes can redistribute resources more fairly. Policies should uplift not penalize the middle class.
When families don’t have to worry about these basics, they can save, invest, and breathe. These aren’t luxuries. They’re rights.
Jobs may come and go, but dignity should not. Universal basic income, unemployment benefits, and housing support can reduce suffering.
Instead of just funding unicorns, help the neighborhood entrepreneurs, artisans, and small retailers—the real spine of any economy.
Companies need to stop seeing workers as costs and start treating them as partners.
Fair wages.Profit-sharing models.Employee ownership.It’s possible to make money without crushing the very people helping you build it.
It needs agency. It needs representation. And most of all—it needs respect.
These are the people holding society together:
Teachers, nurses, delivery drivers, coders, content creators.They vote. They build. They heal. They teach.They don’t need handouts. They need systems that stop pushing them down.A world where only the rich thrive is not sustainable. Eventually, resentment, instability, and unrest follow.
But a world where every rung of the economic ladder feels supported? That’s a world where innovation, empathy, and prosperity flourish together.
It’s time to stop romanticizing resilience and start demanding fairness.
So yes, the rich are still getting richer. But it doesn’t have to be at the cost of everyone else.
Explore the latest treads and tips in Health & Fitness, Travel, Life Hacks, Fashion & Beauty and Relationships at TimesLife!
The question almost asks itself: Are the rich still getting richer while the middle class sinks further into survival mode?
The short answer? Yes.
The long answer? It's more complicated and far more human than you think.
The Growing Gap: A Reality Check
The Growing Gap
( Image credit : Freepik )
In 1980, the richest 10% held 60% of global income.Today, they hold 76%, while the poorest half owns just 2% of global wealth.In India, the top 1% grabbed 40.1% of the country’s wealth in 2023. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% shared just 3% among themselves.
This isn’t just numbers. This is someone skipping meals so their child can go to school. This is a salaried worker giving up dreams of owning a home. This is the gut-wrenching silence when an unexpected medical bill arrives.
What’s Driving This Divide?
1. Wages vs. Wealth
For example:
The average salary in many cities has remained flat.Meanwhile, property prices and stock markets have doubled, even tripled.If you earn a paycheck, your wealth grows linearly. If you own, your wealth grows exponentially.
2. Inflation Hits Unevenly
And when inflation rises:
Savings get devalued.Loans become costlier.Essentials eat into discretionary income.For someone with ₹10 lakh in savings, a 7% inflation rate quietly erases ₹70,000 of its value every year.
3. Tax Structures Favor the Wealthy
A salaried employee might pay 20–30% in taxes.A billionaire may pay less, proportionally, because of favorable asset taxation.Tax laws weren’t always written with fairness in mind. They were written with power in the room.
Tech Boom or Trap?
One viral app can mint billionaires overnight.Automation is eliminating mid-skill jobs while creating high-skill ones most can’t afford to train for.While Big Tech profits soared, job security shrank. Your neighborhood shop closed. But the delivery giant's stock hit record highs.
The same tools meant to “empower” have left millions overwhelmed, overworked, and underpaid.
The Pandemic Made It Worse
The Pandemic Made It Wors
( Image credit : Freepik )
Billionaires added $5 trillion to their net worth during the pandemic.Meanwhile, 100 million people slipped into extreme poverty.While the poor waited in food lines, the rich chartered private jets. The middle class lost jobs, homes, and peace of mind—many for the first time in their lives.
This wasn’t just a health crisis. It was a financial trauma—and the scars are still visible.
The Mental Cost of Middle-Class Decline
The Mental Cost of Middle
( Image credit : Freepik )
The middle class often carries the dream of upward mobility. When that dream collapses, so does mental well-being:
Anxiety over bills and EMIs.Guilt over not providing enough.Depression from social comparison.Silent suffering because “you’re not poor enough to complain.”When the economy squeezes the middle, the country doesn’t just lose consumption. It loses hope.
What About the Next Generation?
Next Generation
( Image credit : Freepik )
Education costs have soared.Housing is unaffordable in most cities.Stable jobs are vanishing.Side hustles are now survival tools.Young people are burned out before 30, not because they’re lazy—but because the ladder they were promised was never anchored to the ground.
The Myth of Meritocracy
But working 12-hour shifts, juggling two jobs, or freelancing endlessly is not the same as ownership or power.
The system rewards those with:
Early capital.Elite networks.Safety nets.Merit helps—but privilege gets you to the start line faster. And often, farther.
Can Anything Be Done?
1. Wealth Taxes & Policy Reform
2. Affordable Healthcare & Education
3. Universal Social Safety Nets
4. Support for Small Businesses
The Role of Conscious Capitalism
Fair wages.Profit-sharing models.Employee ownership.It’s possible to make money without crushing the very people helping you build it.
The Middle Class Needs More Than Sympathy
These are the people holding society together:
Teachers, nurses, delivery drivers, coders, content creators.They vote. They build. They heal. They teach.They don’t need handouts. They need systems that stop pushing them down.
The Future Depends on What We Do Now
But a world where every rung of the economic ladder feels supported? That’s a world where innovation, empathy, and prosperity flourish together.
It’s time to stop romanticizing resilience and start demanding fairness.
So yes, the rich are still getting richer. But it doesn’t have to be at the cost of everyone else.
Explore the latest treads and tips in Health & Fitness, Travel, Life Hacks, Fashion & Beauty and Relationships at TimesLife!