Allison Schrager, Columnist

Think the US Economy Is Unfair? Blame the Upper Middle Class

February 12, 2026 at 10:30 AM UTC

Corrected

February 12, 2026 at 5:19 PM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

Fancy cocktails, anyone?
Photographer: Noam Galai/Getty Images North America

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Billionaires are now Public Enemy No. 1 in America. Majorities of voters, in both parties, think the gap between the rich and poor is a big problem and that the rich have too much power. To be fair, this economy does seem to be making a lot of people anxious and unhappy, but it’s not Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg’s fault. If anyone is to blame, it is the upper middle class.

In other words, if you are reading this — or, come to think of it, writing it — you. Us. We are the problem.