MAYBE I MISSPOKE — by Steve Nadis
Yesterday I applied the term “lower middle-class” to describe myself and Gatemouth reacted to that. Maybe I misspoke. I’ve since amended the post to say “middle-class.” Still article after article suggests that middle-class people, even those squarely in the middle class, are struggling to get by. And that doesn’t just apply to people with extravagant lifestyles and tastes. But I don’t have to tell you that since just about everyone–save for the rich or poor–already knows that.
Posted by
at
16:27:14
Snake–I didn’t really “react” to it, because I didn’t really think you were claiming to be lower middle-class. I just thought you’d made a grammatical error that accidentally included you in your friend’s income bracket. Now I see I was wrong–it wasn’t a grammatical error. But whether or not it was inaccurate, I have no way of knowing.
In any case, I’m glad you changed it, because I find most people’s use of the term “middle class” suspect. The term is roughly defined (currently, in the U.S.) as a pre-tax household income of between $25,000 to $75,000 a year.
That means if you’re defining yourself as “lower middle class” you’re not all that far above the poverty line (especially in Cambridge, MA). But even defining yourself as “solidly middle class” ($50,000/year pre-tax household income) would put you in the kind of bracket where you shouldn’t be spending a lot of time blogging for people who aren’t paying you. Hence, my comment.
You are correct, once again, Gatemouth. And I was in error. I looked it up after your comment and saw the same figures and realized I was middle-class after all. Another friend, awhile back, had given me some inflated figures that had made me think maybe I wasn’t middle-class but I am. The point seems to be that for a lot of people, especially w/children to support, it’s not easy to get by on a middle-class income. But I’m not saying anything new here.
Yeah, it’s definitely hard to get by on a middle class income. In fact, I think the “poverty line” should be raised to include much of the lower middle class, since people in that bracket are pretty much “on the line” (i.e. they have no cushion, so if one major thing goes wrong, they could easily end up broke, homeless, or worse).
The inflated figures your friend gave you may have included the “upper middle class” bracket, which is very vague (for some reason) and can extend as high as $160,000 a year, depending on who’s doing the labeling. That would pretty much put all of us in the lower middle class bracket. But since less than 20% of households earn more than $80,000 a year, including the “upper middle class” stats in the “middle class” category just turns the whole curve into a sunami–with you and me drowning in the undertow.
Well put, Gatemouth. Thanks for keeping me honest. And accurate.