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What about the workers, mate?
12-09-2010, 12:11 PM
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#21
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,130
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What about the workers, mate?
DW and I were discussing this very subject this morning. On a news article on the radio they said "he grew up in a Middle Class family, his father drove a school bus". These days we never hear anything other than Middle Class, the Rich, and "Blue Collar" workers even though plenty of "Blue Collar" workers earn good money.
We decided that the Working Class has met its demise 
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Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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12-09-2010, 02:19 PM
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#22
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,774
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So true, Alan. My father had a white collar civil service job and we were solidly working class and happy to be there.
Now no one wants to be called working class (except for the unemployed who wish they were in the working class).
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“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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12-09-2010, 02:21 PM
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#23
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: west bloomfield MI
Posts: 2,223
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lower class, according to the IRS, is people making 40k per year with 3 kids, or single people making about 20k per year.
Those are the (approximate) income levels for the EIC, which is defined as a tax credit for poor working families.
The rich by the IRS are defined at about 166k AGI, as that is when most deductions are phased out (or start to get phased out).
So my definition of middle class is everyone else- basically between 40k AGI and 166k AGI.
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Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. One person's stupidity is another person's job security.
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12-09-2010, 02:54 PM
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#24
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 4,629
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12-09-2010, 02:57 PM
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#25
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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To paraphrase: I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it!
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If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
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12-09-2010, 03:04 PM
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#26
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 255
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustic23
To paraphrase: I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it!
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Does this mean that the middle class is pornography?
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12-09-2010, 03:18 PM
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#27
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Thailand countryside, Sisaket province
Posts: 1,331
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterBlaster
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The first definition from the NYT readers comments sounds right to me:
Lower -- the working unskilled who were helped by minimum wage laws and union contracts to earn a living wage.
Middle -- the skilled in factory labor, merchants, and government employees.
Upper -- Professionals who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, scientists, and other college educated specialists.
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12-09-2010, 03:48 PM
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#28
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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Could be!
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If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
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12-09-2010, 03:51 PM
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#29
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: 5-sided building
Posts: 1,184
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tractor guy
The guy who used a company plane wasn't rich...
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Sounds like me! Just a gov't employee who uses the company plane a lot!
Just like anything else, it seems fairly relative. A poor family in the US could live like royalty in a third world country.
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12-09-2010, 03:57 PM
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#30
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Palma de Mallorca
Posts: 1,419
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Some other great lines from those NYT comments:
Quote:
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Middle Class | That large group that opposes the redistribution of wealth mistakenly believing it would lower their standard of living. This illusion is perpetuated by those it would.
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Quote:
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"Middle class" is when your investment portfolio return earns less than your employment check. It means that you work for a living.
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12-09-2010, 04:19 PM
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#31
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,660
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I equate class with how people behave toward other people, regardless of how much or little money is involved!
Plenty of affluent people behave in a low class way, and I've known some rather impecunious people who displayed considerable class.
Amethyst
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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12-09-2010, 04:22 PM
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#32
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 22,983
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustic23
To paraphrase: I don't know how to define it, but I know it when I see it!
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Me too. I walked out of Trader Joe one night and saw a nice looking well kept 40 year old woman with good hair and good teeth selling Real Change, a newspaper sold by certain certain homeless or down or their luck people who make agreements about no panhandling, no substance abuse (at least on the job), etc. Before I could catch myself I said to her-You don't look like a Real Change Seller. I was thinking- what happened? You are obviously a middle class educated woman.
I was worried that I had stuck my foot into my mouth, but she said thank you, I know that is a compliment. I bought a paper from her, and sure enough I haven't seen her again. I hope she found a job.
Most sellers are clean and in no way look or act like street people, but they usually don't look like your kid's junior high math teacher either.
Ha
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"As a general rule, the more dangerous or inappropriate a conversation, the more interesting it is."-Scott Adams
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12-09-2010, 04:23 PM
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#33
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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im·pe·cu·ni·ous/ˌimpəˈkyo͞onēəs/Adjective: Having little or no money.
Yep, I had to look that on up, thanks!
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If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
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12-09-2010, 04:28 PM
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#34
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Lake Livingston, Tx
Posts: 4,204
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Ha, good story. I thought of this thread in standard of living. I find it interesting that some look at lower class i.e. lower standard of living, also means lower morals or standards of conduct.
I watched 'Swamp People' several times this year. By no stretch of the imagination would I put them on the middle class economic scale, however, I have no doubt, from what I saw, they are good people on the moral/standards of conduct scale.
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If it is after 5:00 when I post I reserve the right to disavow anything I posted.
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12-09-2010, 04:30 PM
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#35
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,155
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Yep, and they have the nerve to include numbers as if there were some serious researches done.
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12-09-2010, 04:35 PM
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#36
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,305
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I am middle class. Those who make or have more than me are rich, those who have less...I don't know how they get by!
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Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
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12-09-2010, 04:43 PM
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#37
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Houston
Posts: 2,155
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterBlaster
The New York Times had a competition where they let the readers post their definition of what middle class is. Some of them are very clever.
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I like this definition:
"Too poor to be rich; too rich to be poor."
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12-09-2010, 09:02 PM
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#38
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 649
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustic23
im·pe·cu·ni·ous/ˌimpəˈkyo͞onēəs/Adjective: Having little or no money.
Yep, I had to look that on up, thanks!
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Thanks Rustic. I was about to reach for the dictionary 
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"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means." Calvin Coolidge
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12-09-2010, 09:06 PM
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#39
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,455
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"..that salary, or income, range is not the only determining factor of what class a person considers himself."
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