Text 14606, 95 rader
Skriven 2007-05-15 21:24:46 av Josh Hill (1018.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Being Poor
======================
On Tue, 15 May 2007 23:03:55 +0200, Christophe Bachmann
<Chris_CII@Compuserve.com> wrote:

>
>
>Josh Hill a =E9crit :
>> On Tue, 15 May 2007 14:50:54 GMT, Kurt Ullman <kurtullman@yahoo.com>
>> wrote:
>>=20
>>> In article <1179238963.032802.84720@p77g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>,
>>> Bill <beastmachinery@msn.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On May 14, 7:08 pm, Josh Hill <userepl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Actually, while there are no hard and fast rules, $100,000 is usual=
ly
>>>>> considered a middle class income.
>>>> Okay, I must have a massively different viewpoint on this. Since whe=
n
>>>> is $100k considered middle class?
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>    Since Josh pronounced it?
>>>        Think the old Miller Lite Commercials with Burt Reynolds=20
>>> proclaiming "Josh Law".
>>=20
>> "[Middle Class] Income vary considerable from near the national median
>> to well in excess of $100,000."
>>=20
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class
>>=20
>> According to the same article, $100,000 is in fact the median income
>> of those with professional degrees.
>>=20
>I find the embedded graphic really strange as if you look at :
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Class_distribution_US.png
>You see that roughly 50 % of the americans are working or lower class,=20
>50 % are middle-class and a negligible fraction are rich.
>
>Are the US so impoverished that they have no upper-class any more

The per capita income of the US is usually the highest of any major
country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

and this I think has to be taken into account when looking at the
charts. So too does the fact that taxes are much lower here than they
are in Europe, meaning that people have significantly more disposable
income. Sadly, we also have a widening income spread -- with
globalization, the failure of the labor movement, and the turn to the
right the super rich have been getting richer for many years while the
income of the poor and middle class has remained essentially static.

Anyway, it's a fair bet to say that a family earning $100,000 would be
considered well off in any industrialized country, and incredibly rich
in another. But in the United States, a family with a McMansion, a
vacation house, and a car for every member of the family isn't usually
considered rich, just middle class. (Upper middles, by the social
definition, anyway, wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near a
McMansion!)

> or=20
>should the definition of middle class be adjusted to somewhere around=20
>the median income with roughly 1/3 lower 1/3 middle and 1/3 upper=20
>eliminating the working class who doesn't fit in the same scheme. I know=
=20
>some working class persons who are easily middle class in terms of=20
>income.  :-)

As the references point out, there's no /official/ definition of the
classes, just some groupings that we all observe and to which we may
or may not attach names. Definitions of class can be made on the basis
of education and habits, e.g., a fellow who was disinherited by his
rich family for marrying the wrong person might retain upper class
manners and identifications without his wealth. And family income may
not be a reliable guide to class even if the income cutoffs are agreed
upon, since cost of living can vary widely depending on region and
since a given income can mean very different things depending on the
number of family members or dependents.

It seems to me that it might make more sense to refer separately to
class and income, to better account for the sort of discrepancy you
mentioned.

--=20
Josh

"The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet
that people have the right to live life as they please,
as long as they don't hurt anyone else in the process. . . .
The radical right has nearly ruined our party. Its members
do not care about the Constitution and they are the
ones making all the noise." - Barry Goldwater
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
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