Half are poor?

Arthur B. Kenickell, a senior economist with the fed, wrote a paper analyzing changes in the distribution of wealth in the U.S., partly based on the Survey of Consumer Finances. In his paper, he defines the socioeconomic class structure in the U.S. based on net worth percentile:

Bottom 50% "Poor"
Next 40% "Middle Class"
Next 5% "Well-Off"
Next 4% "Rich"
Top 1% "Super-Rich"

This left me speechless.

(Thanks to Lloyd's Investment Blog and Boston Gal's Open Wallet for this reference.)