Emily Stewart writing for Vox:

The American economy is, in many ways, predicated on winners and losers. We’re told the story that a level of inequality is necessary for growth. The discomfort of some workers — largely at the bottom echelons of the economy — is part of the deal we’re supposed to strike for the comfort of everyone else. Except that people higher up on the economic ladder have increasingly been feeling that discomfort, too.

Part of what’s at play is the ever-increasing costs of housing and college and child care, which have caused upper-middle-class Americans to experience more of a crunch for years. Other issues are more recent, like inflation, which everybody hates.

What this amounts to is people who aren’t used to financial insecurity feeling uneasier than they’re accustomed to. The bottom hasn’t fallen out for them, but the ground is less solid in a way it hasn’t been in the past.

America’s semi-rich are feeling semi-bad, and they do not like it.

In a way this is a blessing in disguise. We just might see policies that will finally help the poor and lower middle class - primarily affordable housing, free public universities, universal healthcare, and affordable childcare.

After all, when the semi-rich and wealthy classes start feeling the crunch, the politicians start to pay attention.