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People on here make arguments that low income/poor neighborhoods are filled with crime, and I think that is somewhat of a legitimate stance. But what argument could you possible have against middle class people or middle class neighborhoods??
Last edited by Rudbeckia; 05-03-2008 at 08:19 PM..
You've got to be kidding. People on here make arguments that low income/poor neighborhoods are filled with crime, and I think that is somewhat of a legitimate stance. But what argument could you possible have against middle class people or middle class neighborhoods??
Alright. Rewrite.
I find them annoying. They're extremely jealous.
My mom has a middle class friend. Granted, the lady is nice and all, but, she's beyond jealous. She comments about everything that my parents do.
My sister got a car for her 16th birthday. She crashed it. My parents bought her a whole new car after that. And, that lady was in the biggest tiff. Is it seriously her say?
And, she complained that my parents buy me $400+ cell phones. (hell. I'm in the process of picking another!).
It's just annoying. My parents shouldn't need to curb, or hide, what they buy my siblings and I because of one stupid person.
The job of a parent is to supply the kids with whatever the kids what. Simple as that. It's what my parents go by, and it's what I am going to go by when I get older. (:
Okay, that makes sense. I think you need to wait until after you have worked in the real world away from your parents to form an opinion of middle income America You say 50,000-95,000/year is easy to attain, but you may find it harder to achieve once it's not handed to you.
Okay, that makes sense. I think you need to wait until after you have worked in the real world away from your parents to form an opinion of middle income America You say 50,000-95,000/year is easy to attain, but you may find it harder to achieve once it's not handed to you.
Eh. Honestly. I'm debating between Accountant (leaning towards that one), or Heart Surgeon. Two extremes, but they both interest me insanely. And.. Eh. They're all money. And, besides, and not trying to sound stuck up - My parents would probably subsidize me through whatever.
A healthy middle class is, has always been and probably will always be crucial to the city. It provides the tax base, and the city has always worked to keep it strong. Hasn't always succeeded, but it's tried.
You drive the middle- and lower-middle classes far enough out, you'll lose your support staffs, your hospital orderlies, your diner wait staffs. The time and money it costs to commute won't be worth it.
As you'll discover when you hit middle age, things run in cycles. By the time you're 35 or 40, you've lived long enough to see it a few times. I think New York is in for a pretty rough economic patch. Municipal buget shortfalls, service cuts, tax hikes. Ten years from now, I hope it will be over.
This is an interesting topic to explore. Here is my admittedly amateur analysis of a few economic and social "megatrends":
The metro area will continue to prosper. Local economies of cities are generally dependent on certain key industries and on the continued reinvestment and support of the local business elite. NYC's key sectors, finance, media, advertising, pharmaceuticals, and technology will stay here and generate high-paying jobs which spin off additional economic activity. The fact that the NYC/NJ/CT metro is home to over 60 Fortune 500 corporations, and of course, Wall Street, will continue to ensure that this trend continues even if there are temporary periods of slower economic growth.
And the "Yuppie" population will grow. It is important to keep in mind that "Yuppies" and gentrification are as much social trends as they are economic. There has been a long term trend going on for the last 20 years wherein large numbers of affluent, educated people prefer to stay in cities. The trend from the 40s to the 80s was for the affluent to flee cities for suburbs. This was the main reason why NYC and most other American cities were crime-infested and/or abandoned in the 70s, when the flight of the middle-class and affluent reached its peak. The term "yuppie" (Young Urban Professional) was invented in the 80s to note this new social trend of younger people preferring city life to that of the suburbs. As long as people keep making money in NYC and they want to live in the city, gentrification will continue, and it appears that the Gen-X and Millennial generations want to continue to live in cities.
Poverty, crime and blight will move further out into the boroughs and to some suburban areas. In fact, suburban poverty is a well established 10-year old trend that sees no signs of abating. A 2006 Brookings Institution study showed that by 2005 the suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts by at least 1 million nationwide. Some suburban areas, particularly in older-first ring municipalities, may become the new ghettos of the future due to their smaller and older housing stocks, and as the poor are pushed out of cities.
Already, you can see it. Some of the poorest and most crime-infested areas of NYC are also far-flung: East NY, Tremont, etc.
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