1197
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2024
1197 points (99.4% liked)
politics
19090 readers
4047 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Middle class is the new poor
The middle class also doesn't exist and makes as much sense as trickle-down economics does. It's either working class or rich.
The middle class definitely exists. They still share class solidarity with the poor.
Middle class means you can lose your job, stay unemployed for a year or 2, and keep your home, keep the kids fed. You're closer to the poor obviously, but you have some peace of mind. You've probably got some investments to provide a little bit of extra income to help you through the difficult days.
Basically, I'd categorize rich vs middle class vs working class as "could never become homeless", "unlikely to need to worry about becoming homeless unless something major happens" and "could easily become homeless if unemployed for a while".
Of course, if anyone's wealth is actually trickling down, it's the middle class, not the rich. Because the middle class actually spends some portion of their money instead of hoarding it.
No, it really doesn't exist. It's an idea created by the rich to make some among the working class believe that they are different from the other working class people. But they are not. If you need to work to survive, you are working class.
And please, don't insult your intelligence or mine talking about trickle-down economy. That's also not a real thing
Middle class means being able to work your way up to not having to rely on work or pension to live.
If you're working class, you don't even have that option. You work until you're so old you have to retire, no long sabbaticals in between or anything. You won't go traveling the world to do soul searching. Your kids are either taking student loans or GI bills or just not going to college.
Middle class isn't a 100k income in much of modern America though. Depending on location I'd say it's more like 200k to 600k per household at minimum to be middle class. So yes, the middle class has shrunk considerably.
That's not what the middle class is. I'm not about to repeat myself. And the more you write on it, the more it's clear that you don't understand what you are talking about and never read anything on the matter but instead you're just writing about your personal opinions on the matter. Please stop spewing the insane propaganda of "the harder you work, the richer you'll be" and stop wasting my time
When did I ever say it's about hard work? You're either born into the middle class, or you have to get lucky af. 80 hour weeks at a shit job will kill your health, not raise your socioeconomic status.
I never said it's something everyone can attain (I WISH it still was), but it does exist. For now. It's shrinking hard and becoming a thing of the past though. And unfortunately mostly middle class people are dropping down to working class, rather than going up the ladder.
Personally I aim to retire around the age of 50, or do entrepreneurship for fun after that point. Definitely don't want to work for someone else. If I attain that and my net worth keeps rising despite me not having a job - would you still consider me working class? I know I wouldn't consider myself to be upper class even then.
There's no one singular definition of middle class anyway.