On Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 8:35:43 AM UTC-6, Chris.B wrote:

Desperately fading? Are we talking colours as in the [allegedly] desperate
habit of wearing fawn polyester into maturity? Or do they suffer from some
half-life which denies them the internal glow of youth?

I should have thought his meaning was clear.

The middle class is being eroded by economic changes, and so people are being
kicked out of it due to a lack of money. This makes them desperate, and so
they're turning to metal detectors in the hope of finding buried treasure.

John Savard