Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Pew has a calculator that will tell you exactly where you stand.

PS - I first came across this calculator on DCUM years ago.

Enjoy!

Interesting tool. But it says nothing about class. This just tells you where you fall, locally, with regard to income level.

But income is one way to define class.

Low class
Middle class
Upper middle class
Upper class

^^^
These labels are tied to HHI

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

Yes it is exactly the problem!!

Income inequality is unfair and it’s the result of unearned Asian and white privilege in the USA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Pew has a calculator that will tell you exactly where you stand.

PS - I first came across this calculator on DCUM years ago.

Enjoy!

Interesting tool. But it says nothing about class. This just tells you where you fall, locally, with regard to income level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read “Class” by Paul Fussell (or by Jilly Cooper for the UK equivalent). It’s now very dated, but the principles still hold up. It is a combination of money and social mindset, but honestly more social expectations than actual dollars. I can tell that I have jumped up a class as a result of actions taken over several generations - my extended family and I at this point are no longer in the same group, but it was a result more of education and environment than one family getting “richer”. I have no idea which branch of the family earns more. But I went to the Ivy League, work around the highest level of government, have very different expectations of my children in terms of expectations for them like advanced degrees vs trade school, value completely different forms of activity, entertainment (think the opera vs NASCAR), and so forth.

I think you’re trying to claim you are at a higher class than some of your extended family because you went to an Ivy League school, you want your kids to be the same as you and you don’t like NASCAR?

I’m willing to bet other family members make more money than you or else you wouldn’t claim you don’t know. I too like opera, ballet and plays over nascar. Not living in the South I know nothing about car racing but I know about the arts having several family members professional artists. That doesn’t level up my class, that’s just what I like.

The oddest part of your thinking you jumped up a class is you expect your kids to get advanced degrees and not trade schools. Wealthy families secure with who they are accept their children for who they are and do their best to help them reach their potential.

My friend whose family is in the 1% has a daughter who went to hairdressing school. They are proud and are looking to buy her a salon and get her help starting up the business. My SIL graduated from Community College and my in-laws who are very wealthy and Ivy League educated accept their daughter and her limitations. It’s not unusual at all for kids not to be mini-me’s of their parents. These are the types with class.

Sigh. Read the book and you completely missed the point. The point was that class isn’t solely tied to money or even lifestyle. It’s shared norms, expectations, and habits. It’s what you gravitate towards in your surroundings - antique Chesterfields vs BarcaLoungers with a massage function. It’s “code switching” when you’re around one group and being able to read the room and respond appropriately. Think of the classic skit where someone went to a dinner party with finger bowls and the person from another social structure picks it up and drinks from it. It’s knowing what to wear to different kinds of functions. Think of the themes in Downton Abbey. The rich American daughters being wed off to cash-strapped English barons but also being snubbed because they were “not of our kind, dear”.

It’s not about money. I just now “fit” in different places than my extended family.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Pew has a calculator that will tell you exactly where you stand.

PS - I first came across this calculator on DCUM years ago.

Enjoy!

Hint:

More than half of the dc metro area is Upper.

And I’m willing to bet nearly all dcum posters are as well (whether you realize it or not).

PS - Second part of the calculator includes race, education, and marital status…and they all play a role.

But I live paycheck to paycheck! I am poor!

Anonymous wrote:https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/16/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/

Pew has a calculator that will tell you exactly where you stand.

PS - I first came across this calculator on DCUM years ago.

Enjoy!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know what class am I? I don't know.

Moved to US from overseas when I was 12 and all the social connections were left behind, family came with no money and what was in suitcase. But going back three generations immediate family were a law professor, a pediatric heart surgeon, a OB/GYN specializing in high-risk pregnancies, a pediatrician, a patent chemist. Then we moved from that overnight into poverty because post-USSR we had no money and even less when it was converted to USD. Now as an adult, my income is still very low, live in a tiny condo, dress poor because can't afford anything else. But I still very much value education, love books, spend a fortune on extracurriculars for the kids, There's very little in my checking and not much in savings. I buy artisanal foods and joke to husband that this is my chandelier now (to replace the one we left behind, because I've no place or money to hang the real thing here). What class is this?

Depends. How well are your children doing and are they going to be heart surgeons?

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Simplistic fool

I’m talking about the exact stupidest idea that ever was and boasts the highest number of casualties

Authoritarianism?

Something like that

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Simplistic fool

I’m talking about the exact stupidest idea that ever was and boasts the highest number of casualties

Authoritarianism?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Simplistic fool

I’m talking about the exact stupidest idea that ever was and boasts the highest number of casualties

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

You don’t know what you’re talking about. Simplistic fool