Reply to What is Middle Class....Really?

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[quote=Anonymous]OMG. I am dying!

No, not literally. I'm the OP, and I came back to take a look at the debate here, and the comments (many of them) are demonstrating precisely what I'm talking about. You are such smart people, and I don't understand why there are such blinders on with this topic.

I opened the thread by remarking that so many of the so-called "liberal elitists" (I know...I know...) view a professional who earns a salary of $100,000 "below average" and even lower-class (and almost qualify for government assistance, according to one person!) and worry whether they are on track with a $3 million retirement fund in their mid-40s. I pointed out that the perspective of what "good money" is are so skewed by many of the high-earning Costal "elites" (there's that word again) that they are alienating your average-earning American, who manages to get by on $50,000 or $60,000 a year (family income) - and that it's showing up at the ballot box.

Some of you got this; most did not. You guys are claiming that $450,000 is still middle class, and that $350,000 might be "comfortable" but it's not all that luxurious. Sure, you have a $1 million dollar home and send your children to private school, but....hey....that's pretty run-of-the-mill, isn't it? Or discussions about whether or not you fly first class or coach on European vacations, implying that it's the former that moves one into the upper class.

Hello?? People! The average HHI in the country is $54,000. Only about 10% of those 55+ have $25,000 or more socked away for retirement. To them, a person earning $100K (or $200K per couple) is like heaven on earth. That's the real world, where the largest voting bloc lives. Democrats are driving them away in buckets. Like that guy at the Democratic fundraiser, who remarked to someone he didn't even know (and whose career he didn't know either) about how it's impossible to live on $80,000. Completely out-of-touch.

And I hear all this about how you really need $350K to have a decent house in DC and send your kids to good private schools. But again, that's a challenge of the affluent. The fact that you can do it at all shows that you are upper-income (probably the top 2% or 3%), as most people - the true "middle" - have to live out in the 'burbs in a modest house or, heaven forbid - an apartment rental. (One out of three adults rent.)

If Democrats want to win at the polls, the upper-income will have to start showing they recognize - and emphasize with - the middle class, the real middle class. Otherwise, the lower-middle and working class will align with the Republicans again. 
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