What's Middle Class? (Atlanta: low income, sales, apartment)

[gt6974a]

Originally Posted by happycamper5

The old school ''true middle class'' blue collar folks did not have new cars every 3 years,credit cards,100 tv chanels,online,I-pods,cell phone,central a/c.I can go on forever !!Its not that the middle class is getting squeezed out, They are trying too sqeeze in!!!

Yeah I'll agree with this. There are several things that we all spend money on today that my parents didn't 20 years ago (even though they do now).

[happycamper5]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

True, but alot of those items didn't exist back then- if they did, the "true middle class" would have had them, and would also have had the credit card debt that most "middle class" folks today have that allowed them to have the cell phones, ipods, etc.....

I dont now if I agree with that! what I am saying is todays middle class or joe the iron worker lives above their level, and spends what they dont have ,resulting in falling into lower middle class [on paper].The reason yester year middle class was more defined is they did not have all those things Is not a excuse to over spend today....is it ? I'm sure there was something they could have blown their money on.It is too easy today as we can see now!! to borrow and spend ...that is the reason there will only be rich and poor in the future, most either save or spend and less and less fall in between!!!

[onemanarmy]

Middle Class? It's a figment of your imagination. You know the imagination that tells you wealth is infinite and is a right entitled to you by hard work and perseverance. You know the imagination that tells you everyone who is poor is lazy and dumb. Politicians use the word middle class to control the population. People like myself a long time ago as a kid thinking I was middle class, when my mom made 30k a year , or my friend who parents taught them they were middle class making 200k a year. Middle class is a term where poor people try to attain by living beyond their means and rich people stoop down to, when trying to relate.

[AtlMuslimah]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

Middle Class? It's a figment of your imagination. You know the imagination that tells you wealth is infinite and is a right entitled to you by hard work and perseverance. You know the imagination that tells you everyone who is poor is lazy and dumb. Politicians use the word middle class to control the population. People like myself a long time ago as a kid thinking I was middle class, when my mom made 30k a year , or my friend who parents taught them they were middle class making 200k a year. Middle class is a term where poor people try to attain by living beyond their means and rich people stoop down to, when trying to relate.

Poor ppl trying to live beyond their means is "keeping up with the joneses" and so do some affluent people do it too, to keep up with their social circles. If they're rich they're not stooping down to other income caste level. Merin:If social-economic levels don't interact beyond places where they normally encounter one another, then you don't really have a community.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by Merin

I think it really depends on your Geographic location. We live in the city and have a household income of about 200k, we are still very middle class, IMO.

In my opinion, you aren't.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Merin

I think it really depends on your Geographic location. We live in the city and have a household income of about 200k, we are still very middle class, IMO.

Agreed...and it also really depends on how many people you support on that income. There is a big difference between a single person making 200K and a family income of 200K, especially when that family consists of multiple kids and one spouse that doesn't work.

I support a family of 5 on my income, and I am not rich.

[laji01]

Originally Posted by happycamper5

middle class= when your too rich to get it for free and too poor to pay for it!!!

I like this definition. If you are as busy and work like a mule, you may get $300K so what's the point? You did not have the pleasure to hangout with your family and do not enjoy your life? Do you lead a life like middle-class, I think a teacher may well into it as he/she has time to go to concert, enjoy music but workholic get nothing but money ?

The point is, what's the point to define middle class? If you are not short of money and enjoy your life, you are living a happy life, let others talk about if he/she is middle-class!

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by neil0311

Agreed...and it also really depends on how many people you support on that income. There is a big difference between a single person making 200K and a family income of 200K, especially when that family consists of multiple kids and one spouse that doesn't work.

I support a family of 5 on my income, and I am not rich.

I don't think when the powers that be come up with income numbers and how it relates to the income class system, they base it on how large a family is - they base it simply on "household".

In other words, if your household income (regardless of how many work, or how many kids you have) is over $200,000, then you are not technically considered "middle income". No one forces anyone to have 3 kids, or 4 or 5 or more ...or none for that matter. The income class system is based on per-household income.

If we went by household members, then someone could make $1,000,000.00 per year but have 12 kids and say that they're "lower income" because they have so many kids to support. So it all has to be averaged out on a per-household system across the board in order to be able to even get close to coming up with who belongs in what slot.

[lastminutemom]

How about this idea-- middle class isn't about income but it is about values.

Middle class values might include pride in home ownership or in some parts of the country, rentals, valuing education, respecting other people's space, etc

The reason that some push for mixed income housing developments is so that lower income people can be exposed and inculturated (is that a word?) in middle class values. There is a small (and not particularly growing) number of school systems that use income level to assign students to schools, again to make sure that poor children are surrounded by less poor children and poor children from "middle class" homes.

I want to live in a community where parents value education and neighbors keep their lawns mowed.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by laji01

I like this definition. If you are as busy and work like a mule, you may get $300K so what's the point? You did not have the pleasure to hangout with your family and do not enjoy your life? Do you lead a life like middle-class, I think a teacher may well into it as he/she has time to go to concert, enjoy music but workholic get nothing but money ?

The point is, what's the point to define middle class? If you are not short of money and enjoy your life, you are living a happy life, let others talk about if he/she is middle-class!

Are you implying that teachers don't work a lot?