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> It makes them effectively have similar societal power as the middle class.

No they don't

> They can’t get their names on institutional buildings.

This has never been the purview of the "merely rich."

> I think that makes them much closer to the middle class than the truly wealthy

Sure they are closer to the middle class than the ultrawealthy, but that does not make them either not-rich or middle class.

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This really is splitting hairs anyway. There’s a good argument that the median income of the US is very rich.

I take rich/wealthy to mean a much higher social class than $1 million in annual income. That type of income would be like a husband and wife who are doctors working as employees with a boss bossing them around and working long hours.

If you’re a W2 employee like that I don’t think you are rich/wealthy.

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