What is "middle class"?

[snarlingcoyote]

I have yet to meet anyone that isn't broke or close to it define themselves as anything but "middle class." No matter how much money they had, even if it were sticking out of their ears, they'd say they were "upper middle class."

I've seen that phenomenon commented on by sociologists and other social theorists and as far as I can tell, it's entirely true. Unless you're on the street broke, or at the level of Bill Gates, in America, you consider yourself "middle class".

 

[LaraK]

Sorry, that is like saying, "I have $1MM in the bank, but I will not touch it, so I am poor."...

Yeah, not the choice I'd make either, but for some reason they don't want to sell.

 

[FINFAN]

it's a disappearing classification of people. Soon we will be a nation of the " well to do", and everyone else.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

it's a disappearing classification of people. Soon we will be a nation of the " well to do", and everyone else.

No, soon it will just be everyone else. The "well to do" will leave when they are threatened with high taxation, just like they did in the 30s, 40s & 50s...

 

[Mamiamjo]

Here is my shorthand.

If you pay no income tax, you are upper class (or a Democrat politician-bazing!).

If you pay income taxes, you are middle class (or a Republican politician-bwah bwah)

If you pay no income tax and get a refund, you are lower class (or an illegal alien).


/s

 

[raysnkaysmom]

If you can barely afford to pay your basic living expenses such as food, clothing and shelter; to me that is poor. I'm not talking about not being able to pay for a huge house, eating out all the time, and designer clothes. I'm talking about basic needs.

Key words are 'barely afford'....I think if they CAN afford it...even if scraping by, they aren't poor..... Ask someone who is living out of their car or has to give up their kids to the state due to lack of funds to care for them.....I'd consider those people 'poor'.

Middle Class is harder to classify depending on location and their spending habits. But, in a generality....I'd say middle class is something along the lines of being able to pay the bills, have a little extra for eating out and an outing here and there and a few shopping sprees.... That's a luxury alot don't have right now....

 

[CPT Tripss]

If you ever meet someone from "old money" who has never worked and considers people who do work to be beneath him/her, you will realize that there still exists a very clear class system in America. As far as they are concerned, there is the Upper Class, and then there is everyong else. These people control almost everything in America, and the world...

They run things because people vote for them, or for their minions who will pass any law to keep the rich rich. People vote for them because they secretly lust for "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

 

[Colleen27]

I don't agree with this statement. There are places in this country where you can purchase a house for $40,000.

Even less right now. We're moving into our new house at the end of the month - 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600sq ft in solid but outdated condition, on 1/4 acre in an award-winning school system for 19K.

 

[Colleen27]

Sorry, I don't see how anyone can claim to be poor when they have sufficient income to put together a down payment on a home - even a $40k home. As has been mentioned on this board, there are those living comfortably (if not luxuriously) on $15k-$25k per year...

But owning a home doesn't mean that they put together a substantial downpayment. Many of the people we know received their downpayments as gifts, and others bought with 0% down. And among the working poor buying 40K houses, there's a fair number who use their tax refund/earned income credit as a down payment. I don't know anyone in my generation who put 20% down because for so long real estate was going up faster than median income earners could save.