What was once considered middle class is now often considered party.
I think you mean poverty. And I have to agree.
If you went back 60 years -
A significant portion of the country still didn't have electricity. My grandmother, for example, grew up in a house that was only electrified in her teens.
Iceboxes were still competing with refridgerators
Radios were a luxury - tvs were for the richest family in the town
Cars? To own one was solidly in the upper middle class. Two? You must be rich.
Homes back then - even upper middle class, were tiny compared to the ones built today.
How many people remember party lines for phones? Where you shared one phone system with a number of your neighbors?
On the cell phone topic, I feel the need to elaborate somewhat - a cheap cell phone plan can be substantially cheaper than a land line today. Especially if your housing situation is somewhat unsettled.
Of course, many of those living in poverty aren't actually doing so bad, because the index doesn't measure 'non-monetary' income like public housing or food stamps. Also, I think that many under the poverty line actually make at least some extra, unreported/under the table income.