What are you? What are your neighbors? Is the hourly worker making a decent wage in a low cost of living area the same as a coder in SF making low 6 figures? Who knows? Let's figure it out!
What are you? What are your neighbors? Is the hourly worker making a decent wage in a low cost of living area the same as a coder in SF making low 6 figures? Who knows? Let's figure it out!
I think the definition should be based more on what you can and can't do versus a simple income number, or income with some COL adjustment.
This task to define something seems way less fun than the Upstate expedition.
Lets all use the same ruler. According to this I sneak into the Middle Class and could earn $100k more and still be MC.
https://www.investopedia.com/financi...20%24122%2C000.
started from the bottom, now we here.
Depends on one's proximity to a canal.....
Are you on the packet boat or leading the mule?
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Vanlife Test:
Sleep in your rusted shitbox, strewn with all the possessions you own, by the church or library? Low class
Sleep in your late model pickup + slide in, or converted minivan, at some quiet trailhead? Middle class.
Sleep in your custom build Sprinter, all perfectly organized, in the ski area parking lot? Upper class
"This Pew classification means that the category of middle-income is made up of people making somewhere between $40,500 and $122,000 [note: per household, not per person].
Those making less than $39,500 make up the lower-income bracket, while those making more than $118,000 make up the upper-income bracket."
Oh yeah, we can fight about this for days, but I assume something like 80%++ of maggots have household incomes over $118k.
If you wear Carhartts you get to claim “workingman” or “middle class” status no matter how much you make.
Leading the mule in my carhartts pants and hoodie..
although their pants are sized weird.....making it unimpossible to buy online - need to try on local
Ooooh it's time for my sociology PhD to shine!
Wait...
Nope this is more relevant than anything academic social science has come up with.Quote:
Sleep in your rusted shitbox, strewn with all the possessions you own, by the church or library? Low class
Sleep in your late model pickup slide in, or converted minivan, at some quiet trailhead? Middle class.
Sleep in your custom build Sprinter, all perfectly organized, in the ski area parking lot? Upper class
So I think it's a mistake to break class in the US down to just money. It certainly is the dominant thing, but the reason class isn't more fluid is that it isn't the only thing. Things like attending high prestige schools and having certain manners/interests/knowledge allow some individuals access to certain kinds of networks that someone with a similar income but without those class markers is excluded from. This is one of the things that makes class "sticky". Something happens to the income stream of the Harvard (or even Brown!) graduate, and that durable class marker ensures they don't fall far economically. A small plumbing supply company owner might make more most years but likely lacks those markers and network access so the class position is much more closely tied to income.
You guys are talking income. High class, low class - I thought we were talking about fashion. No? Cause I'm pretty sure I know what category of fashion "class" that most of us fall under...
My classes are all AP.
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It all comes down to the shoes.
Dress shoes with carhartts?
blundstones, sorels or mucks?
You can always tell by how a person treats the help.
Lower class asks "Did you have enough to eat?"
Middle class asks "How did the food taste?"
Upper class asks "How did the food look?"
I was working on a $50 million dollar home for a well known billionaire and come Christmas, this guy buys honey baked hams for every man jack on the jobsite. At that time there was over 300 people on site every day. I saw guys who literally couldn't comprehend the act. They had never seen anything like it.
The clients were a very appreciative and gracious couple. The wife would drag an ice chest full of popsicles around to hand out when it was hot. unfortunately this was not common behavior from our tech titans.
Nope, class isn't quite as sticky as caste as there are no assumed innate assigned properties, whether they are acceptable professions or purity rules. I've spent a good deal of time in India, where caste is absolutely still salient, and while there are overlapping features, it is still very different from class in the US. In some ways it's more like if you mixed race and class together and hardened their ascriptive properties a bit.
I'd define things as-
Upper class= people who live off interest, earnings, dividends, and rent paid for by the labor of others. (probably less than 3% of Americans)
Upper middle class= people who have careers or own small businesses that offer the ability to save and invest for the hope of one day living off the interest, earnings, dividends, and rent paid for by the labor of others either for a short stint in retirement or generationally if cards are played right. (Maybe 10% of Americans).
Middle Class= People who are able to float the image of stability, but have very limited control over their circumstances because of limited resources. Some may own houses with mortgages, some may rent. Cars and big ticket items are leased or bought on monthly payments, etc. Education or medical expenses risk bankrupting the entire family, etc. Small amounts of investible assets may be acquired, but generally not enough for a dignified retirement or hope of creating generational wealth.
Lower class= everyone else. These are the people who pay interest on everything they own, living paycheck to paycheck, never acquire significant investible assets and have no hope of a dignified retirement.
I have no data to make an educated guess on the breakdown of the % of the population who are middle class or lower class. Perhaps being on some form of government assistance is a good delineation between the two groups.
While it is imperative to have enough money to eat and enjoy life, I hate categorizing people into "classes". I'd rather discuss people according to their moral fiber. Mensch, Good person, Douchenozzle. Fuckwit. Not too long ago, I had a family over for dinner. Actually, I think that a maggot was present, too. The father (and wife and kids) were so full of themselves. More than once, he bragged about being in the top 1%. Even in my drunken stupor I grew bored before the end of cocktails. By desert, I was ready to throw them out. No Sambuca for them.
What if you eat your lunch out of a baggie on the lift with your gloves on even in snowstorms (especially in snowstorms?) Where does that get me classified?
There's a weird amount of truth in the saying once a dirtbag, always a dirtbag.
Why is there so much pride for me in maintaining that low class lifestyle? I could be Bill Gates rich and I'd still be eating cold sandwiches out of baggies on lifts...
sprinter van check
golf sitting by the pool sunday brunch at the country club check
smoking weed out of beer can bowl check
definitions are just ways to put people into boxes to try to lable them who they might be
you guys are slipping
Have you smoked crack out of a broken off car antenna?