Your sentence that the middle class is the poor version of the rich or the richest version of the poor is wonderful.
It certainly makes us think about what the middle class really is today. For me only the illusion of acting as a watershed between two worlds opposite each other with the hope that at any moment we can find ourselves part of the rich class and the constant fear of finding ourselves poor.
Of course, the purchasing power of the middle class varies from country to country but my experience and personal feeling today makes me see a worsening of the condition of this category everywhere, the increase in prices does not go hand in hand with the increase in salaries so the dream of being the middle class fades more and more.