Quote:
Originally Posted by taxwonk
An awful lot of working class people are making about $10-$12 an hour right now, as 1099 contractors and their hours kept well below the threshold for getting them in ERISA trouble. $420 a week doesn't buy much. Joe's kids might still be able to play little league through the park district or Boys and Girls Clubs of America (an incredible organization if anyone needs a last-minute charitable contribution deduction).
|
Oh, I agree that the working class is becoming the working poor. Marketplace, IIRC, did a great series on this phenomenon. But the gradual disappearance of the working class/lower middle class isn't what I was talking about.
My point was that Sebby is nuts to say that Joe Six-Pack's view of the Typical Lawyer of the Fashion Tips Board as "rich" is wrong, and to (based upon my own working class relatives in the Ancestral Homeland), assure him that (a) they're as overextended as we all are, only our houses, cars, and booze/food is much nicer; and (2) my cousin Mark (whose bungalow and 2004 Jeep Liberty are both paid off) would be delighted to trade it for an underwater McMansion and a leased E-Class if he had the income to (barely) service said expenses.
We all have money stresses - wouldn't you rather be worried about your bills while driving home, listening to the Angry Grrl channel on Sirius sitting on a seat made of fine Corinthian leather, in your leased Benz (as opposed to the Clear Channel commercial-filled AOR FM radio station while stuck in traffic with no A/C in a paid off Dodge Dart from the Bush I administration)?
Yeah. Me too.
