the issue of CLASS in America? Here We GO A-GAIN!

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   gmwilliamsposted 5 years ago

   
   Is the issue of socioeconomic class a relative construct in America?   What is considered to be the lower socioeconomic class?  What is considered to be the middle socioeconomic class?  What is considered to be the upper socioeconomic class?  Most of all what do YOU consider to be the lower, middle, & upper socioeconomic class?

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      lovetherainposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      It somewhat depends on where you live. There are more expensive places to live, and that can play a big factor in determining which class you are in. For instance, we were able to buy a nice house here in the pacific northwest, but if I lived in san diego, i wouldn't be able to afford anything nice. in some cities, the working class have trouble just paying rent. it also matters how you manage your money. we are probably considered to be in the lower class, although i would call it "working class". but we manage our money well and save, save save. This has enabled us to buy our house and vehicles,and put us in a position to buy a business next year. i know people making a similar amount, yet they live paycheck to paycheck and buy unnecessary things like 1000 dollar smart phones.

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      1. 84

         gmwilliamsposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Good luck on your business.  I am so proud of you!

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2. 85

   Don Bobbittposted 5 years ago

   What a great word; SOCIOECONOMIC!!!
   I can speak a little on this subject, if for no other reason other than the fact that I have lived almost 3/4 of a century as a citizen of the great nation of ours.
   I grew up a Baby Boomer without even knowing what that was until after I had graduated from high school and joined the Navy.
   My parents were not POOR, per se. Rather they never actually considered themselves as being POOR. My Dad served in WWII, and after the war he and my Mom raised (fed and clothed) 4 kids. He worked for a number of years at odd jobs such as; taxi driver, carpenter, home repairs and such until he finally had enough seniority working for a railroad full-time.
   When I graduated from our small high school, my parents had no money to support my dream of college, so I joined the Navy. I didn't know I was POOR all this time either.
   Anyway, I did go to college, but it was after I served my term in the Navy and it was at night and took me a number of years to get my degree as I worked a full-time job.
   SO, what socioeconomic class would have put me in then?
   Well, to the point of your comment, I thought I was Middle-Class.
   Now, as i look back, I feel that I was brain-washed back then to feel I was in this class of people.
   I look at the taxes I have paid over my lifespan so far, as a percentage of my income, and I feel it was always exorbitant compared to the percentage that more wealthy people paid.
   I consider myself and the rest of this mythical middle-class to have been and is still being raped by our government at the behest of the wealthy.
   So, your attempt to categorize the American population into categories is futile and mis-directed, there are only two classes in America; the Wealthy and the POOR who want to be wealthy but are willing to continue to accept a system that punishes them with each paycheck they bring in.
   DON

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      wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      "I look at the taxes I have paid over my lifespan so far, as a percentage of my income, and I feel it was always exorbitant compared to the percentage that more wealthy people paid."
      
      Did you feel the money you paid in taxes were exorbitant compared to the money paid by others that were contributing 1,000 times what you were?

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         Don Bobbittposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Let me express it this way.
         If I work for peanuts, and I make 100 peanuts a year and a family if 4 can subsist on 60 peanuts a year, but my tax is 20% then I only have 20 extra peanuts for my family a year.
         If the wealthy man down the street makes 100,000 peanuts a year and he pays a tax of 40% a year, he still has 60,000 peanuts for his family of 4 to subsist on.
         Is that fair? I mean he is paying twice the tax rate as I, right?
         I say NO, because the wealthy guy isn't happy with his 40% tax so he pays off some politicians to give him some of those things called exemptions so that he actually doesn't pay any taxes at all. He isn't happy with his 60,000 peanuts, but he wants to keep all of his peanuts.
         Me, on the other hand, I have enough to subsist on and only 20 extra peanuts aren't enough for me to expand my education, purchase a new car, buy better food or even invest into that great idea I have for a business.
         That's the system we have today; designed in inequality of hope.
         DON

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            gmwilliamsposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            The middle class is THE MOST TAXED class in America.  The middle class is like the middle child in the family- oftentimes the BACKBONE but OVERLOOKED & SO UNDERAPPRECIATED, even UNAPPRECIATED!  You are right!

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            1. 95

               wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               As a group the middle class pays the most, certainly.  But as individuals they pay a tiny fraction of what the rich does; there has never been a single middle class citizen paying taxes of a million dollars per year, but there certainly has of some of those outside the middle class!

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            wildernessposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Let ME put it THIS way:
            
            If you pay 20 peanuts per year but someone else pays 40,000 peanuts per year for the exact same thing, is it fair?  Nowhere but in the support of our nation do we base a person's cost on total income.  Not buying a home or car, not in purchasing food, not when spending on anything at all.  Only when it comes to providing for the needs of all of us as a country, and somehow we've decided that it is "fair" for one to pay a 1,000 times what another does, and then make constant excuses for demanding even more from those already paying the most.
            
            But fair or not, it is the system we have today (and I don't see any other system with any possibility of working); designed in inequality between people.  Still, it says something when we seek and demand that that built in inequality become greater every year.

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            GA Andersonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Don, that has to be the worst reasoning I have heard in a long time.
            
            It sounds like you want that wealthy guy to end up with 20 peanuts too - just like you.
            
            It sounds like you would consider it only 'fair' if that wealthy guy paid 3000 times what you do for the exact same thing - support of your country. It seems irrelevant to you that pre-deductions he is already paying 2000 times what you pay.
            
            Do you not take advantage of any tax breaks in your income bracket? No mortgage deduction, child exemptions, earned income credits, etc. etc.?
            
            If you could get an earned income credit, (a cash-back handout), why do you begrudge the wealthy man for taking a similar scale deduction on his earnings? He certainly isn't going to qualify for your earned income credit, yet you lament he might have a deduction that you don't qualify for.
            
            GA

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               Don Bobbittposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               GA - You fall back on the old crutch that the wealthy not only deserve their relatively enormous number of peanuts after their taxes but that they also deserve to get back those that they should pay with a level tax system.
               So, they should use their many (bought off) lawyers, lobbyists and congressmen to pay essentially nothing if thats what they want?
               In my opinion, there's no problem with someone making profits and having a larger income, but the assumption that they deserve to get back part of what they do pay?
               I, and most of my middle-class peers are tired of it; in fact many of the most wealthy are embarrassed by how little they pay in taxes (ie. Buffet), but they keep on using the system.
               Regards,
               DON

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