It's not just about lifestyle, as another commenter pointed out. It's about inflation. I look to my own family as an example: My parents, who live well within their means, have been making roughly the same level of income (between $80k to $90k) for the past 15 years, and it's getting harder and harder for them to get ahead, even with both of their children grown up and out of the house. Everyone is feeling the crunch, you are not alone.

Middle class Americans are taxed to the hilt, and inflation is the "invisible tax" that devalues our currency over time while the rich stay rich, and the poor get poorer. The middle class is disappearing, and this post is just one more shred of evidence of our government's thievery in action. Six-figure incomes no longer buy what they once did because our government keeps printing more money that devalues the supply, then they tax us all and redistribute the wealth. It's a huge scam led by the Federal Reserve and it's leading our nation into ruin.