Lower, middle, and upper class is such an antiquated way of dividing people into groups to keep them at odds with each other.

The fact of the matter is, there are truthfully only two classes. The working class, and the capital class. 95-99% of individuals fall into some strata of working class. If you earn a wage, a salary, or a commission in order to purchase basic necessities- you are working class. If your money makes you money simply by existing, and your assets passively appreciating in value mean that you do not have to work for a living in order to buy basic necessities, then you are in the capital class.

Screwing the poor is a time honored tradition in capitalism.

From Cracked's article, 5 Cruel Ways Being Poor Is Expensive

• Household Goods Like Toilet Paper Cost More For Poor People
• The IRS Audits Poor People More Frequently Than Rich People
• Poor People Have To Pay Extra To Access Money They've Already Earned
• "New Customer Fees" Are Thinly Disguised Penalties For Being Poor
• Nutritional Inequality Goes Much Deeper Than Food Deserts

From another article, 5 Screwed-Up Ways The World's Stacked Against Poor People

• "Period Poverty" Is A Very Real Problem
• "Transit Deserts" Keep People From Finding Work
• Low-Income Housing Is Leaving Residents With Massive Energy Bills
• Low-Income Neighborhoods Experience Longer Emergency Response Times
• Low-Income Families Are More Likely To Be Audited

Finally, Why We Can't Stop Hating The Poor

• We Have Laws Designed To Make The Poor Look Like Assholes
• The Hate Comes From Some Unexpected Places
• Poor People Smell Bad
• The Poor Remind Us That Sometimes The System Is In Fact Bullshit
• We Have To Believe People Deserve What They Get

Let the Leftist infighting commence!

how expensive it is to be poor

For anyone that needs the read, Terry Pratchett said it so well it is an economic theory now, the Boots theory.

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness.[4]

From Men at Arms by Sir Terry Pratchett

Also, a history of "people don't want to work" bullshit going back to 1894: https://thunderdungeon.com/2024/07/14/nobody-wants-to-work-anymore/

Middle class, at least the income bracket that was middle class has been butchered.

Because middle class is used wrong in North America.

Poverty class is simple, you don't have enough to live.

Labor class is divided into three;

Low labor, your barely paid enough to scrape by.

Middle labor, your paid enough for your work to live.

High labor, you're paid well for your work. Perhaps you own your own small business.

Middle class, you aren't paid a wage or salary anymore, you're income comes from the things you own. As rich as a politician or nobility but not much political power.

Upper class, in old Europe this would be the nobels. Duke's, Earls, Lords, that type of stuff. In modern north America this would be the ultra rich. You have political power and you own a lot of stuff. This is where most representatives are.

Politician class, former Royal class. You rule, extreme political power and wealth.

Most people in North America think they're in the middle class when really they're in the Labor middle class, it's very different

There is no middle class. There are only working class and wealth class. Just because you are high earner in an office job doesn't mean you're not working class.

That used to be true, pre-1980's, when the middle class was way, way bigger than it is today.

If you don't work with your hands but still need to work, you're middle class, no?