Ahhh feels good to be in the middle class at 300k a year

[Anonymous]

*live* here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright. All of you people whining about the high cost of housing in DC are free to move to Ohio or New Mexico. Otherwise, please stop already. You've made a choice to leave here, now deal with it. You can go elsewhare and be more then "middle class" if you want.

No one is whinning about 250k it's those that want to increase taxes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now all you douchebags can shut up about how 250k is rich.

450k is rich, it's the law

You sound like a real douche. Hope I didn't bump into you at any parties last night!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now all you douchebags can shut up about how 250k is rich.

450k is rich, it's the law

You sound like a real douche. Hope I didn't bump into you at any parties last night!

You couldn't have unless you're in the same caste as OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be ecstatic to be making 25% of the $250k.

- signed a teacher who teaches your children

You can - switch careers or take on a second job. Free choice, all that...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whiners who think that $250K is not rich or $300K is middle class are ones who for some odd reason seem to think that terms like "middle class" and "rich" are defined as absolute terms that mean a certain life style rather than a relative term compared to the rest of society.

Once again, for those in the back playing with their iPhones and not paying attention, "middle class" is that section in the MIDDLE of the income earning population or those in the MIDDLE of the household wealth owners. That is roughly those in the 25th to 75th percentile. For income, the median HHI in the nation is about $50-60K. For the DC metro area, the median HHI is about $75-90K (about $75 in the district and about $85-90K in the suburbs). The 25th to 75th percentiles nationwide are about $35K-125K depending on area and the 25th to 75th percentiles in the DC area are about $40K-150K. Median net worth in 2010 was about $55K-75K (depending on which source you cite, CBS is at the low end, CNN at the high end). While the DC area has 7 of the 10 highest wealth counties in the country, the #1 (Loudon County) is only $119K. The median in the DC area is probably somewhere around $100K (that's conjecture on my part).

Those who make $250K HHI or more, who have homes, IRAs or 401Ks, 529s and such with several hundred thousand in retirement, college savings, home equity, etc are so far from the middle class, it's a joke that you're claiming to be part of the middle class. The middle class is not the same as it was when Ward and June Cleaver were bringing up the Beav. Even if it was, you're still beyond that. The average household size in the 1950's was under 1500 sq ft. The house that my parents bought in 1957 that they had my two siblings in was about 1300 sq ft. That was about average. The average house now is about 2400 sf--nearly double the size. In 1950, most households had one car. Now, most households have two, especially the ones with $250K+. Average, middle class people in the 1950's did not live in the areas with the BEST schools either. Those areas were still above median and were expensive even then.

So those who think that living in the areas with the best schools, having an "average" size house and two cars (whether they are old or not) plus retirement, 529's, extras, vacations, are way out of the realm of middle class. You are in the top 2-3% of the nation and whining that you aren't in the top 1%. You all need a very big reality check.

I guess you are all for the living standard of the american dream to be lowered. If you are right why did obama and the dems say 400k?

By the way I don't have an iphone I have a free android phone. Think about this, after taxes, 401k, mortgages and savings my disposable income is the same as my inlaws outside of the dc area who has the same size home and only needs one income of much less a year. So you are saying housing costs don't matter and don't affect cost of living?

Maxxing 401k, having a mortgage over 400K, and having more than 1-2 paychecks saved is so outside of the norm for most of the middle class, including those in high COL areas. It's not about how you feel, as a previous poster pointed out. I am living paycheck to paycheck for now with a HHI of 70K this year, but that doesn't make me part of the working poor. I have a mortgage, ample retirement savings, saving for college, have good healthcare, etc, things millions of working Americans don't. You've lost your perspective.

[Anonymous]

Crap... looks like we are "poor" now.

[Anonymous]

Also, "decent" homes can be purchased in DC for far less than 800-900K. That price point is the going rate for the most affluent neighborhoods in DC.

[Anonymous]

Oh sure - 12:55, because this country needs more lobbyists and fewer teachers.

[Anonymous]

How dare someone equate a teacher's salary with poverty level income? It is atrocious. And then to say it is their choice to be in that situation by choosing this profession. Good Lord.
And yes, the PP is right. Some of us have lost perspective and it is shameful. You have a mortgage, retirement, savings - and you dont like what you have leftover so you want to call this middle class now? Middle class people are living paycheck to paycheck and forgoing 2/3 of those things at the very least to make it. If you want more spending money at the end of the month, downsize. And I dont mean your phone! Dont complain that after you do the three things most middle class people cant afford to do you dont feel rich anymore so you must be middle class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, "decent" homes can be purchased in DC for far less than 800-900K. That price point is the going rate for the most affluent neighborhoods in DC.

YES, so true. We bought our house for under 500K in a neighborhood which is changing rapidly and in the right direction. We love it here. People dont NEED to live in 800-900K houses in DC or the burbs. They choose to. My parents live comfortably in a 350K house in wheaton and they love it. That would be like them saying that unless they can afford a house in Chevy Chase, they are hitting the poverty line. If you want to claim you have the same amount of disposable income as my family does so you must be middle class but own a million dollar house in DC or the burbs because you HAVE to in order to live properly, you are delusional. That is a choice to live in that zip code!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, "decent" homes can be purchased in DC for far less than 800-900K. That price point is the going rate for the most affluent neighborhoods in DC.

YES, so true. We bought our house for under 500K in a neighborhood which is changing rapidly and in the right direction. We love it here. People dont NEED to live in 800-900K houses in DC or the burbs. They choose to. My parents live comfortably in a 350K house in wheaton and they love it. That would be like them saying that unless they can afford a house in Chevy Chase, they are hitting the poverty line. If you want to claim you have the same amount of disposable income as my family does so you must be middle class but own a million dollar house in DC or the burbs because you HAVE to in order to live properly, you are delusional. That is a choice to live in that zip code!

Again, my inlaws live in the same type of home with same quality of neighborhood outside of DC on 1/2 the salary. It's the cost of living. I understand it's rough in our area and people make sacrifices but it happens everywhere and the same 70k salaries are half that in other areas. I don't really get how people don't understand that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright. All of you people whining about the high cost of housing in DC are free to move to Ohio or New Mexico. Otherwise, please stop already. You've made a choice to leave here, now deal with it. You can go elsewhare and be more then "middle class" if you want.

I have no desire to leave what I am getting at is Obama and the Senate have gotten over the whole 250k rich BS and so should everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Middle class is a sociological term, not something legislated by Congress. And the 250k, 400k, or whatever, is a negotiated line in a particular tax bill, not a redefinition of a vague, relative term like "middle class" or "rich" as a precise term that fits the entire country. So WTF are we arguing about????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, "decent" homes can be purchased in DC for far less than 800-900K. That price point is the going rate for the most affluent neighborhoods in DC.

YES, so true. We bought our house for under 500K in a neighborhood which is changing rapidly and in the right direction. We love it here. People dont NEED to live in 800-900K houses in DC or the burbs. They choose to. My parents live comfortably in a 350K house in wheaton and they love it. That would be like them saying that unless they can afford a house in Chevy Chase, they are hitting the poverty line. If you want to claim you have the same amount of disposable income as my family does so you must be middle class but own a million dollar house in DC or the burbs because you HAVE to in order to live properly, you are delusional. That is a choice to live in that zip code!

Again, my inlaws live in the same type of home with same quality of neighborhood outside of DC on 1/2 the salary. It's the cost of living. I understand it's rough in our area and people make sacrifices but it happens everywhere and the same 70k salaries are half that in other areas. I don't really get how people don't understand that.

You are such a douche. "Rough" and "sacrifice" does not describe anyone who can pay a mortgage, fully fund a 401k, and save on top of that!!!! Just because your house is the same square footage as a house in bumblefuck means nothing. "Rough" and "sacrifice" mean working 2 minimum wage jobs, working in a coal mine, or watching your kids go hungry.

Anyway, yet again, they somehow have succeeded in making this debate about dividing people against each other. What we really need to focus on is improving things for everyone - high quality child care, better schools, decent health care.