Posted on 09/26/2016 3:53:11 PM PDT by Lorianne
In 1971 70% of Americans were middle class. A clear majority. Today the middle class is now a minority. It is interesting that within one generation we have pushed the middle class into minority status yet most people still think they are middle class when the data clearly states otherwise.
This misperception is probably at the root of a lot of the political anger this year. If everyone is middle class and you are struggling, surely it is the system to blame. Forget about the cronyism on Wall Street and the deep capture of big money in D.C. – the answer is simple. The politicians are wrong and there is a simply solution to be had. There is no easy solution unfortunately and that is why anger is the currency of the day.
We have a deeply held belief in America that if you work hard enough, anything is achievable. This is something built into the core of our nation. If you go back to the Great Depression, while other countries were overturning systems and shifting deeply held ideology, Americans held steady and went out and voted. But people think they are middle class if they make $22k or $200k. The median household income in the U.S. is $56,000. That is the middle. Let us look at the figures here.
Middle class perceptions
The media has a distorted perception of what the middle class is. There have been politicians saying that $200k is middle class. That is absolutely not the case. And the media also makes it a point to rarely talk about income because they have started to wise up. Many people don’t make that much. Bring that to their attention and they may not buy all the products you are pitching.
(Excerpt) Read more at mybudget360.com ...
i didn’t look at charts and graphs in school. You think i’ gonna do it for fun? :)
My wife is middle class. I’m redneck with a middle class wife.
lol I hear you.
But there are some chart and graph geeks and I wanted to give them the heads up.
They are a pain to post.
The Greater Depression has clearly shown that those of us with the trappings of a middle-class lifestyle are much closer to poverty than we may believe. As for what everyone thinks, I believe young people have far fewer misconceptions as many of them scrape a crappy existence out of the McJobs available to them.
Here in NJ the only stable “middle class” is the government workforce protected by unions/tenure; they also seem to be the only Americans breeding or buying homes.
They will break down the really important stuff for us.
Honestly, I do enjoy analytical articles, you just need to be in that frame of mind.
And I’m interested to see where the article is going. Will save for later. How do you do that? :)
200k in manhattan and 200k on staten island 14 miles away is a STAGGERING difference.
300k townhouse compared to 2.5 mil townhouse.
and most on here would spit at paying 300k for a townhouse!! if you’re lucky!!
In my town, Bullhead City, AZ a 45K job is considered a middle class job.
Yet our nation’s “poor” have cable/satellite tv, flatscreen plasma tvs, internet + computers + smart phones + monthly data bills, 85% of our nation’s poor have aid conditioning, etc.
What’s wrong with that? Middle-class is also a mindset: going to work on time, paying your bills on time and living a conservative lifestyle. Rich or poor, it is middle-class values that sustain a nation.
Very good points.
That is true, but they are beholden to somebody else providing it. While none of us is truly independent, the freebies given to the welfarians are like the toys in a hamster cage. They really are living in game preserves - and they are the animals. The only interaction they have with anyone else is when somebody from the real world wants to procure drugs or prostitutes.
Middle Class should be based on what you spend, not what comes in.
One advantage of being ‘Middle Class’ is that one often has friends who are rich and poor. As I see it, most of the rich aren’t any happier than I am. Some of them worked hard, some got lucky. And most poor people I know don’t work any less hard. Sure there are a few bums but most of them just got a bad draw of the cards and never learned the skill set to move up, or never developed the self confidence that my parents equipped me with.
The rich aren’t any happier, the poor aren’t any more noble, 80 percent of what *I* have seen is due to luck and being born to parents who inculcate a work ethic and/or provide a bit of resources for a running start.
My point is that representative government requires a middle class to work well; we don’t envy the rich or idealize the poor, we know we could probably be either if we were either lucky/unlucky or driven/lazy.
What’s left over in my budget goes to pay for these little luxuries. Why not? I can’t afford a vacation and my car is old. House is 10 percent paid off. I need some enjoyment of computer and Tv . No cellphone though.
I keep saying this. People think I'm mean, but poor people who DO NOT PAY TAXES should not be allowed to vote.
The last three words of the 24th amendment (or other tax) were absolutely wrong headed and stupid.
If you were fortunate to be born into a landed family, however little land they owned, you were considered upperclass. If you were born into an unlanded family, but managed through diligence and savvy to amass some savings and investments in business then you were considered middleclass. If you were born poor and stayed poor you were lowerclass.
It wasn't just about purchasing power. It wasn't about whether you were your own boss or not. If your money came from land then you backed policies and legislation that favored the landed. If your money came from business they you backed policies and legislation that favored business. If you were poor you just struggled to get by. Your only opportunity to 'vote' were during food riots.
Today middleclass seems to mean people who are generally required by circumstances to lead mostly morally upright lives in order to get by.
The rich can get drunk, drugged up, and riddle with STD's and they'll be OK after a spin through a rehab clinic or two.
The poor have nothing to lose. They'll have to get wasted on cheap booze and low quality drugs, but that'll just keep them down where they already are.
The middleclass have to have good work habits, stay away from too much booze, drugs, and STDs or else they'll end up poor.
To my mind there is no such thing as the working poor. The working poor, if they are getting by, are the middleclass. They are among those holding up the moral values of the nation by going to work, saving, and staying off the police blotter.
Middleclass no longer means entrepreneurial shopkeeper or investor; someone who is denied entry into the upperclass merely because of his genealogy.
Middleclass, at least in the US, means adherents to the Judeo-Christian moral code either because it is truly believed to be the right code, or for fear of falling into the abyss of poverty.
MY IQ is 85. That puts me in the middle of something.
Hell, two of 'em could do that.
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