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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
80k is tough to live on in DC metro area if you have a family and want to buy.  It's a great HHI for somewhere more rural, but here, it's peanuts.  Interesting you think that this "teacher" took that comment as a slight instead of, say, thinking to herself, "you know, teachers ARE underpaid around here."  You know, because everyone knows teachers tend to be underpaid.[/quote]
But OP's point is that statistics bear out that a lot of/most people *are* living on that amount.  And they can't all be unicorn outliers who inherited a house or whatever.  A few years ago, I worked with a GS-9 who was supporting a wife and kid on his income.  I wouldn't want to do it, but a lot of people do it.

I agree with OP that it's to our peril to pretend that $100K is barely scraping by...even if it means that housing is out of reach in some cities.[/quote]
I'm OP. Yes, exactly....thank you. When people bemoan an individual earning $100k as unsuccessful career-wise or exclaim how their income of $430k leaves no room for "extras" (both of which I've seen on DCUM), it makes those with incomes that are truly average frustrated and ignored. (This matter of not being able to afford a house in a major city on a $150k family income is irrelevant. They are still making 3x what the average famiy is, and it comes across as being insensitive - at best - to the average working American.)

Democrats are really good with identifying with the truly lower-income and advocate for all sorts of public assistance programs. For the most part, they have those votes. Where they lose out is with the lower-middle and working class (say, HH incomes of $40,000 to $80,000) where the bulk of voters fall. [b]So when a Democrat makes a comment about "how does a person live on $80,000?" to someone whom he knows nothing about (certainly not their salary!), he is showing the same tone-deafness that cost votes at the polls.
[/b]
Some of you get this, but some still do not. That scares me for the next election.

[/quote]

I don't get statements like this. Republicans never say these things? [/quote]

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