What do you suppose the Salary is for middle class? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

all this talk of money, salaries and materialism really cracks me up.

first and foremost, i'm as guilty as the rest of us here. i just bought a new rptv, new receiver, new fridge, stove and more a/v cable then i care to recall. so color me guilty as well.

that being said, i often think about how VERY VERY LUCKY i really am. i look at a lot of other people, other neighborhoods and certainly other cultures and i just say "wow...". i don't mean to sound elitist...just appreciative.absolutely, but didn't sheryl crow say that in some song?

i always try to take a minute, take a deep breath, and realize how lucky i already have it. it's good for your mental health and outlook -- try it.

sorry...let me get off my soapbox now.

 

[Lew Crippen]

And Peggy Lee sang:

Is that all there is?

As sad a comment as exists.

 

[MickeS]

Everyone thinks they're "middle class", whether they're making $20K or $200K a year. The problem with this country (well, one of the problems anyway ) is that the middle class is shrinking and most of us are getting poorer (relatively speaking) while only a few of us are getting richer.

Did you notice that a 2 liter bottle of soda is now about 50% more expensive than 5 years ago? Same with almost everything in the grocery store every time I go it seems like either the amount is less or the price is a few cents higher than last time. Yet I keep seeing that inflation is supposed to be low. What exactly are they checking when they measure inflation? It seems to me that the rich are sucking the poor dry cent by cent.

/Mike

 

[Scott Dautel]

c'mon Micke ... I'll play your game ...
a DVD Player is now $39.99 at my local drugstore
You can buy one hell of a PC for $600
I routinely buy 3 12 paks of coke for $8.
a McDonalds hamburger is $0.39 on Tuesday
A 15 oz bottle of Suave shampoo is $0.69 at Wal-Mart
The InFocus X1 projector is often $899.
I buy shoes for my kids at Target for $9.99

Shall I continue

 

[DaveGTP]

I made $35k last year on an AWFUL lot of O.T. - I made $5k more, despite a $1.xx/hr paycut for us Kelly contractors last year. My fiancee made about $10k at her new fulltime job but should make about 15k this year.

My fiancee graduated with her dual Criminal Justice and Psychology Bachelor's in December, but hasn't had any luck getting a real job yet. I was Electrical Engineering for ages (slowly, since I work fulltime).



And yes, I think the Engineering market is in the dumps.

I recently switched to dual major in History and Computer Science. Two guys I know that graduated with engineering degrees are still, a year, year and a half later, working slacker jobs. A friend with Geological Engineering found a job in Wisconsin, but that's pretty much it. And a buddy with a Computer Science degree worked for Kelly Services (like me), but he eventually got hired into State Farm insurance - however, doing something not really even computer-y.


All I can say is, we are scraping by tolerably. I almost wish I hadn't bought my '00 Grand Prix GTP back in early '02. I love my GTP, but the $335 a month + $100 insurance gets old after a while. I plan on paying the car off and driving it until it dies (which should hopefully be a long time - I've seen GM 3800s last to almost 300,000 miles).

I have too much CC debt floating around - about $2k, mostly old debt. Plus about $1800 in a personal loan I still haven't paid off, plus about $2k @ 3% interest I took a loan out for a few months back for our Wedding and Honeymoon in Las Vegas. Plus $450 on my Osterman card @ 0% for the wedding rings.


I think the biggest error people make is that an 10k+ car is a necessity. It IS NOT. IT IS A LUXURY. The $15k I spent on my GTP is a LUXURY. A good used car for about $2-4k at most will do the job for a couple of years. I bought my Beretta for about $7500 with 89k, payment $175/month), and drove it almost 4 years to 169k, replacing only a radiator (and some maintenence like tires, brakes, etc).




Too many people worry about the vehicle as a status symbol -gotta have the shiny new SUV, no matter how much it costs, to haul the kids around, or just to look affluent, or "old cars break down to much". A little math will show you that it is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to spend $10k + interest in repairs on any car. And even if you could, it would make more sense to get another car. There's a reason some of the really affluent people drive old used cars - it's logical and economical.

But I agree, there is a problem with Capitalism widening the gap between the rich and poor. It will only get worse with time.

 

[Ted Lee]

oh...i feel your pain.

i'm in the software support biz. can anyone say bangalore, india? i knew you could....

 

[MickeS]

Where do you find that? The best I've seen lately is 2/$6, up from 2/$4 a couple of years ago, a 33% increase.

/Mike

 

[Eric_L]

If you work for the IRS then 'middle class' is about $25-$35 thousand. (Thats where the average tax-payer starts to become liable for taxes)

If you work for (whoops, politics!)party then middle class starts at $250,000.

If you work for (whoops, politics!) party then there is no middle class - you are either poor and disadvantaged or rich and greedy.

 

[David Lawson]

I would say you and I are pretty middle-class for this area, LaMarcus. We're both roughly the same age with roughly the same salary, and while you have the benefit of a second income, you also have the extra mouths to feed. I'm still in the process of paying school off (damned Miami education ), so that takes a decent chunk out of my income.

Let me say that I am deeply offended by the phone and cable rates in the Dayton area. The other costs are comparable to Cincinnati, although there's no trash fee in my area, and I use considerably less water.

 

[Mark Romero]

Damn, you beat me to it!

My random thoughts: my wife and I make a good living. We have a $1500 house payment but no car payment. We paid off a $46,000 vehicle in less than a year. Everything we buy goes on the credit card but it's paid off every month (unless I forget ). We have no kids. Spent over $7000 on new countertops and sink for our kitchen, went to Europe for 2 weeks, plus I got myself a Samsung 43" HDTV, Sony HDTV receiver, Paradigm Studio 20's and a CC570 all within 4 months. We both realize we are very lucky and neither of us thought we would live like we do. We spend a lot of money but we also save a lot of money. Hopefully we will continue to be fortunate until retirement hits.

 

[Todd Hochard]

Mark, who beat you to what? Egging on LaMarcus to a life of unaffordable conspicuous consumption?

 

[LaMarcus]

Mark!! Where have you been at man? I see you've upgraded your setup, sweet. I take it your back in the States now.

Mark does what I'm trying to get my degree in (Computer Information Systems, Network Engineering degree). So I know he makes a good wage, and I'm trying to get to where he is. That's when I I'll say I've made it. ($1500 rent )

David, yeah my cable bill is up there, and it's actaully cheaper than it used to be. It was $150 a month with HBO/Cinemax/Showtime. I got rid of Show time and some of the digital tier that I never watched (and really thought was free til I looked at my bill). I'd get rid of HBO/Cinemax too if not for Sopranos.

But the Hi-$peed internet is $50, so without that it would only be around $60+ before taxes. But that's with a DVR box and a HD box, but they don't have ESPN-HD (which really pisses me off).

 

[LDfan]

Mark, Good Lord Man!! May I ask what you and your wife do for a living? I need to switch careers


Jeff

 

[Mark Romero]

I am a network engineer for a large Defense Contractor. I travel a lot and Per Diem supplements my income although my company is trying to screw us on that at the moment. My wife is a manager for AAFES, the DoD entity that runs the Exchanges on Air Force and Army bases. She transfers every 3-4 years so we pack up and move. My job allows me to live wherever I want (knock on wood) as long as I am able to go on the road when asked.

 

[andrew markworthy]

This is really fascinating for a Brit. You guys seem to judge which social grouping you're in by salary. In the dear old UK, what you do is way more important than what you earn. Thus, any sort of manual trade = irrevocably working class. Basic office skills = irrevocably working class. Working in a store (no matter how up-market) = irrevocably working class. To be middle class in the UK, you've got to have a middle or higher management job or a profession. And then you get all the snobbery of your place in the middle class rankings (and let's not even start on the upper classes - e.g. amongst the nobility there's a definite divide between those who got their title before or after the Tudors).

The result is that a large number of working class people earn more than members of the middle classes, but are considered socially inferior. E.g. plumbers are rarer than hens' teeth in the UK and as a result can charge the earth, but they are still 'inferior' to e.g. a junior bank manager, who may literally be on a quarter of their income.

 

[LaMarcus]

Wow, now that's amazing.

 

[Mark Romero]

It's similar here in some cases. But why, if one is working in a bank, making less than half of what I make, would one consider him/herself to be in a higher class than I? Money doesn't buy class but it sure is nice to have.

 

[LaMarcus]

Well I can see how job title can dictate respect. If a person works at Burger King you would tend to give them less respect than you would a Electrical Engineer.

But if that person at BK is making $25 a hour and that EE is making $18 a hour, you'd proalby look at that person at BK just a bit different.

 

[ChrisMatson]

There are different levels of socioeconomic "class" in America as well, but much less rigid than in other countries. This is what makes the "American Dream" possible.

I have heard people complain about those with "new money" vs. "old money."

Old money implies wealth over generations, better education, more travelled, more cultural awareness of the arts, etc...

New money implies that the person is not used to having money--they buy gawdy things and behave in an inappropriate manner at high-class affairs--think Beverly Hillbillies.

There are no hard and fast rules. I would agree that people in America tend to respect the money more than the person or profession. Unfortunately, I have met plenty of people with money who put the "ass" in "class."

 

[Bill Griffith]

I often wondered where Middle Class is supposed to be. My wife and I together make more than some and less than others so logically I guess we are middle class. Now where in middle class is unknown.

The only thing that gets me when it comes to how much money people make is when they are making more money than you and didn't need to finish high school to get the job. This does not include craftsman or privatly owned bussiness' like plumbers or similar.

There are jobs out there that a non high-school grad can do and the people working in those positions are paid hourly, therefore get overtime. And you as a higher educated person are responsible for these people or what they are doing and you are salaried, fixed yearly income. Yet they make more a year than you do, because they get the overtime. This is majorly screwed up.