“
great proportion of the lower middle class should properly be assigned to the unemployed and the unemployable. They are only not that, because the possession of some small hoard of money, savings during a period of wage earning, an insurance policy or suchlike capital, prevents a direct appeal to the rates. But they are doing little or nothing for the community in return for what they consume;
”
”
H.G. Wells (The Complete Novels of H. G. Wells: Over 55 Works: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The History of Mr. Polly, The War in the Air and many more)