I don't think there's anything "lower class" about carrying a pile of student debt for a college education of questionable worth, or carrying ridiculous mortgage on an overpriced home, or paying off a seven-year loan on a car you never should have purchased.
“I think much of the debt we have in this country is most assuredly an indication of a pampered middle class. “
Fully agree. I think the rhetoric about ‘saving’ the middle class is frankly insanity since I honestly believe that the issue of the middle class spending too much is what is driving the economic crisis.
No one has any business buying a car that costs as much as a house used to or a house that costs as much as a mansion used to. No one should be going to a school they can’t afford just because of the ‘name’. A Harvard degree isn’t going to do much if you don’t have the right contacts and university contacts expire pretty quickly after a few years of being a graduate in the wider world. As for school, if you can’t go to an Ivy League college, too da** bad.
I'm puzzled by that assertion, because to me it is the definition of "lower class". Why would one obtain a pile of student debt for a dubious education? Why carry a ridiculous mortgage on a pricey home? Why go nuts paying a loan on a car you shouldn't own? My wife and I realized in our youth that you live within your means. That was how we climbed out of poverty, as both of our parents were poor and had nothing to offer us. We didn't overreach when buying, and bought what we needed, not what we wanted, and we paid off debts as soon as possible. We climbed into the middle class.
Our adult kids were pampered to some extent, but taught economic sense. No student loans for them, they worked while attending college. No ridiculous mortgage, they bought homes on the cheap and did their own labor improving them. They bought used cars paying cash. They are working poor but certainly middle class.
We have relatives and friends who were careless. A couple of nieces have a pile of student debt with stupid degrees, can't get jobs in their field, have trouble making rent, and bought cars with loans; their parents co-signed, had financial difficulty and lost their home and are now renters themselves. That family fell into the lower class category. My brother-in-law has a good job but has a pile of debt and no assets to show for his years of work, in his sixties. Being careless can make one "lower class".