Reply to Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

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Reply to "Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To the PP asking about my cite re: affordable housing.  The answer is Fairfax County.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/rha/rentalhousingprograms/fcrp.htm

Check out the second column.  A household of 4 with an income of $85,850 is considered to be earning 80% of the area's median income and qualifies for affordable rental units.

I think this is the problem with trying to put a dollar number on middle class.  A single person making 85k is much better off than a family of 4 living off 85k.  To me, the idea of middle class is being able to afford at least a 3 bedroom SFH in a decent school district with a less than 30-45 min commute.  The ability to save for college, take a vacation every other year or so, have some savings, go out to eat for special occasions, etc.  The problem is that the "middle class lifestyle" no longer matches up with the actual "middle class income."  Watch the documentary "Inequality for All."  Very eye opening. [/quote]

Or TH, doesn't necessarily have to be SFH.  But in general, the image most of us picture as "middle class" is becoming attainable only for those who fall into the upper tiers of earning.  The very wealthy want us to bicker about the fact that someone making 300k is doing so much better than us, but really it isn't the 300k households that are the problem.  These families are doing better than us, but they aren't rich.  If anything, these households are spending $$ on nannies, restaurants, travel, etc. that keep a lot of people employed.  And many are one job loss away from losing a lot of what they have.

It's the very affluent who invest their money overseas that are hurting us all.  Even the richest man on earth only buys so much furniture, can eat out so many times, etc.  When they very rich end up with more than they can ever spend, it skews the middle class downward.  We need more consumer spending and for people with actual middle class incomes to have the purchasing power that those in the upper middle class have.[/quote]

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