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The fact that a million dollars isn't attainable to 75% of the nation doesn't make that million an enormous amount of money one can live off the rest of his lif
by akomtu 6y ago
The fact that a million dollars isn't attainable to 75% of the nation doesn't make that million an enormous amount of money one can live off the rest of his life. This fact only says that 75% will never become that middle class. And the SV bubble is one of few last places where one can climb to the middle class level. I prefer to call things the way they are: Americans have been sliding into poverty. Doing clever stats and percentiles doesn't work around this fact.
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoIf 75% of people aren't there now, and never will be, it isn't "middle class". "Middle class" does not mean "the top 25%".
- akomtu 6y agoSo if in 50 years the top 1% owns 99% of the economy, will we call folks with zero debt and zero assets the middle class or will it be more fair to say that the middle class is gone? My definition of middle class is it "those who have to work, but are financially secure and can afford their own place, cars, kids and some vacation", while the rich are those who live off capital gains and don't need to work at all, and underclass are the paycheck to paycheck crowd (half the nation).
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoSo anyone who has a million dollars, but still has to work because a million isn't enough to retire on, is middle class by your definition. Let's just call that a minority view of the definition of middle class... (I can accept the definition of "rich" as "able to live off of capital, and therefore not needing to work". But there might be another layer between that and "middle class". You might call it "wealthy rather than rich" or something. Having a million in capital puts you a long way past "able to take a vacation".)