The real "hidden prosperity of the poor"

When I saw the headline in the New York Times—“The Hidden Prosperity of the Poor”— I thought of something very different than what Tom Edsall’s commentary is actually about.

Edsall highlights an insidious and specious argument about income inequality made on the right. In essence, the cost of basic human needs has gone down in relation to income, while consumer goods have become cheaper and cheaper. So even poor Americans might have a little disposable income to buy nicer stuff. Thus we don’t have an income disparity problem, and there’s no reason to worry about the concentration of wealth.

Edsall’s analysis of this argument is certainly helpful—especially if a person is tempted to buy this “hidden prosperity” idea in the first place, perhaps because one spends exactly zero time with poor people.