Yeah, you can look at it that way. It depends on your starting position economically. There bottom steps on the economic ladder are missing. Cheap entry level homes near economic centers or good paying jobs in low cost of living areas are both missing. The working poor have tax breaks and see some public benefits, high earners have good tax breaks and no benefits.
I don't know if I agree that the bottom steps are missing. There's a lower step if you rent. There's a lower step if you don't have a car. Some times this is impossible, but in most cases, especially the ones people have been posting about here, it's doable. But people don't want to do this, so they spend more and feel poor.
There might be a big step between poor and middle class though, as you come off benefits and have to pay higher taxes and health insurance. Child care also seems prohibitively expensive.
