If you have time, definitely check out the Globe’s excellent “Squeezed” package of stories on the plight of the middle class in Massachusetts, starting with the apparent mainbar (“Why the middle class is disappearing in Massachusetts”) and moving on to the second article that I’ve read so far (“One job, three generations, 30 years of inflation: A story from Massachusetts’ shrinking middle class”). The latter piece really hits home, looking at a Dorchester grandmother whose lifestyle trajectory is completely different from those of her daughter, who works in the same family child-care business as her mother, and her granddaughter. One generation could afford to buy a home and live in relative comfort. The younger generations, well, you know the answer.

Btw – As the Globe notes, the definition of “middle class” is tricky these days in Massachusetts. Most sources measure it by income, in this case around $70,000 to $200,000, give or take ten grand or so. Obviously, there are a lot of people in that category. But if you define the middle class as people who can somewhat comfortably afford the American Dream of buying a modest home, you’re talking about a much smaller number of middle-class residents today in Massachusetts – and it’s even worse in Greater Boston, where the median price of a single-family home is now more than $1 million. … And we’re not even talking about the skyrocketing costs of health care and higher education, two other big-ticket items increasingly burdening middle-class and other non-wealthy residents …

Btw II — Coincidently, the Globe series came out the same week as the Boston Foundation’s latest devastating look at the regional housing market, as GBH reports.

Btw III — Think affordable opportunities increase the farther west you move in Massachusetts? Think again. This NYT piece makes clear that the housing crisis has hit the Berkshires full force, with the same fundamental problem confronting the region: lack of new housing construction.