Posted on 02/26/2007 9:53:40 AM PST by RobRoy
"What killed the middle class?"
Psst. The middle-class is bigger than it's ever been. Ever.
Hirschhorn must be one of those guys who was forced to shop at Wal-Mart with a gun to his head.
>>As to the politics of sprawl, Americans traded democracy ownership for home ownership. They stopped paying for democracy through engaged citizenship and started paying for compulsive consumption. True citizenship was replaced by social isolation and loss of social capital as people cocooned themselves in their private space where they could gratify themselves with more and bigger possessions.<<
Two points:
1. I dumped TV ten years ago. One of the unexpected consequences was that I was cured (for the most part) of consumerism. I now realize that television is the engine which powers demand. If the american people were to wein themselves of all commercial TV, our economy would completely collapse in a year.
2. We, as a culture, have become noting more than zoo animals with comfortable cages. But we must constantly work and fret at paying the debt for those comforts and are, in reality, to tired to really enjoy them.
I am flabergasted as I drive through some dumpy neigborhoods and see boats, jet skis and motorhomes parked next to homes at various levels of disrepair. The "toys", all of which NEED LICENSES (fees!!!), sit there most of the year unused, while the owner works and works to pay for them. It would be funny if it were not so sad.
My wife and I want to take up kayaking on the lake. We were going to get one of those $400 ones at costco. We decided it would be MUCH easier to rent them by the hour. Sure, if we become fanatical kayakers we could buy them, but not until. We don't have to store them, repair them or transport them. It is just too easy!
I'm still alive, and many of my friends who were middle income are now upper middle class.
Yep, we're dying like flies! LOL.
I don't agree with the guy on everything he wrote. The jabs at Bush for example. Although to be fair, he is simply jabbing the "current" president as of writing the article.
But then, if he and I agreed on everything we would be redundant.
Meaning?
You can't Kayak when the class is "Half Empty"?
I think there's a lot of truth to this. I've said for some time that the basic strength of private property ownership got tossed out the window once this "ownership" involved suburban homes that really have no connection to the underlying economic principles of private property.
>>I'm still alive, and many of my friends who were middle income are now upper middle class.
Yep, we're dying like flies! LOL<<
...said the stock investor in early 1929.
One of my friends had an incredible retirement portfolio. She and her husband had $850,000 and were set for a very heavy retirement. If you had talked to her then about a coming "bust" she may have said what you just did.
That was in January of 2000. She is in her late 60's now and back at work. That retirement portfolio is currently at ~$150,000, thanks to the 2000 beating.
IOW, get back with me later in the year, after those $1,000,000,000,000 in loans reset. If you say the same thing, I will say you were right and I was wrong.
I too am considered upper middle class and my FEDERAL income taxes total for 2006 were exactyl 18%. But the person you replied to said all taxes which includes federal, state, property, school and sales taxes.
>>While this column does contain a few nuggets of wisdom and food for thought, I got the impression it was mainly a class warfare manifesto.<<
Generally speaking, I agree with that to a degree.
Very good point. I remember reading somewhere that John Mellencamp's 1980s-vintage song "Pink Houses" was based on this very point. He was driving across the Midwest through small towns along the road, and he couldn't help but notice that the crappiest pastel-colored homes (the "little pink houses") all had satellite dishes on the roof and big new cars parked in the driveway.
You have no idea what you are saying. But if you believe that most of us here are ignorant and illogical that's your problem.
At least make your illustrations a bit more honest and less emotionally extreme.
Well, I am going to throw the BullSh@t flag on that. AMT for "upper middle class" is going to cost you 31% in Federal Tax. Social Security is approx 7.5% (or 15% if you are self employed). Add in state and local income taxes (in NYC that would be 6% and 3.5% respectively). Add in real estate taxes (easily up to $20,000 a year for many NE and CA cities).
And I have not even addes in gas tax, sales tax, phone tax, transfer taxes, etc.
I can get to 50% in total taxes without breaking a sweat
I'm still waiting for the "massive defaults and foreclosures" so I can buy more houses.
In some cases, that's true, in others, it isn't. The job market has been extremely volatile over the past 7 years or so and people who once made very good money and could afford expensive homes suddenly found themselves out of work and facing bankruptcy because their corporate officers didn't pay attention to what was actually going on in the business. The next thing anyone knows, the business is in bankruptcy, accounts are gone, revenue is down 70% and there are massive layoffs.
No one is bullet proof and this can happen to any of us. This is why networking is so important. The more friends you have in high places, the better your chances of coming out smelling like a rose.
I wish this were true for my area, as I am in the market to buy a house, but it's not happening.
I don't think so. I don't think we have been a republic ever since the 17th Amendment was passed. We are truly a democracy (mob rule).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.