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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Only in the DC area have I ever experienced this. I don't the the UMC in more affordable areas brag that much to us poors. [/quote]

It's definitely a DC thing. People here are very insecure about status and money. And UMC people in DC are extra conscious of it because the high cost of living means there are plenty of UMC people who are VERY financially comfortable but may struggle a bit to do something like travel abroad or stay in a luxury resort. It's getting more true because of the cost of housing in DC. Things that, say, a law firm partner used to be able to afford pretty easily (tuition for elite private schools, international travel, PLUS a nice house in a "good" neighborhood) are now a stretch for people in the same jobs, because their housing costs several multiples what someone who moved to this area in the 80s or 90s would have paid. Plus private school tuition is much higher. College is much more expensive too. Travel is actually cheaper in many ways, but not necessarily luxury travel.

So there's this perception of "struggling" to afford things that they feel they are entitled to because of income and social status. It's not real struggle -- we're talking about people making upwards of 600k a year, often on a single salary, who live in multi-million dollar homes and travel a lot. But they have this feeling of insecurity like they aren't keeping up because all this stuff costs more than it used to, and they work in industries where the perception of success is very, very important.

I used to live in LA and there is a lot of this there, too, especially around kids and private school. But for some reason less around travel. People still talk about it and can be competitive, but not to the degree they do in DC. They are more likely to be competing on real estate and where their kid goes to school. Cars. What celebrities they know or work with. But in DC, travel is a big form of social currency. Perhaps the more international nature of the population here drives that?[/quote]

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