What is the middle class exactly?

[Lao Tzu]

http://regional-institute.buffalo.edu/images/sotr/02/char/econ/1_10b_lg.gif


Here is an income distribution by household chart. This is close to the US national household distribution, and as you notice the 50th percentile for household income is about 39k a year.

So what are the middle class? are they the third quintile? that doesn't sound right as i know 'working class' families who had household incomes of 45k a year or more.

Is the middle class just a description for everyone who makes more than someone at McDonalds but not as much as a doctor? Seems to be because i've heard people from quntiles 2-5 describe themselves as middle class, or lower middle class, or upper middle class.

 

[biteme]

I guess I'm on pace to make around 40G this year. It's not enough to get ahead. I just stay on pace. Spend about as much as I make. And it's mostly on things that we need.

 

[Gambino]

Biteme, I make about the same as you. Fuck, it seemed like a lot of money a few yrs ago, but now, it kinda sucks...

 

[BO-DEN]

lol

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

lol

that's commie speak

 

[Apöllo]

There's rich people in Communist Countries.

Think of it this way. Does Jesus approve?

 

[ManOfArms]

In the last three years my salary has been increased several times, and with every salary increase, I can't believe how much I pay on taxes, it almost makes me want to

 

[PIGEON-RAT]

eviscerate the proletariat

 

[Lao Tzu]

I guess I'm on pace to make around 40G this year. It's not enough to get ahead. I just stay on pace. Spend about as much as I make. And it's mostly on things that we need.

Hmmm. i am having trouble digging up the stats i need to prove this but im pretty sure making 40G puts you in about the 80th percentile of wage earners, meaning if you passed 5 people on the street you'd make more money than 4 of them.

i've heard alot of people say the same thing you're saying though, some made 60k, some 90k, some 30k. I guess its a matter of personal opinion, real estate costs, and personal wants.

 

[Imnotdutch]

There's rich people in Communist Countries.

Think of it this way. Does Jesus approve?

Not many 'communist' countries are truly communist.

 

[Longhorn85]

In the last three years my salary has been increased several times, and with every salary increase, I can't believe how much I pay on taxes, it almost makes me want to

vote republican?

 

[biteme]

vote republican?

And shoot yourself in the foot? The middle class and the poor will only get poorer.

 

[atlantabiolab]

Not many 'communist' countries are truly communist.

This is because true communism is a fantasy, a Utopic dream. Marx was delusional.

 

[Lao Tzu]

vote republican?

republicans spend just as much as democrats only difference is republicans do not raise taxes to pay for their spending, leading to debt which leads to the eventual raising of taxes to pay for interest.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

i always thought doctors were middle class

the way i see it is taht if you HAVE to keep on working, youre middle class

 

[Robert Jan]

It would make sense for "middle class"
to be a third of the population...

1/3 poor
1/3 middle class
1/3 rich

but what is named middle class in the media is really just rich people who can just not retire yet

 

[Lao Tzu]

It would make sense for "middle class"
to be a third of the population...

1/3 poor
1/3 middle class
1/3 rich

but what is named middle class in the media is really just rich people who can just not retire yet

yeah it makes sense but pretty much every household in the 20-130k range calls itself middle class.

 

[anthrax]

Middle class = the "poor" guys who pay the more taxes (in proportion)