I’m a little confused about this thing called “Middle Class.”
I recently read an Opinion piece in the New York Times in which it pointed out the absurdity in Ms. Clinton’s definition of “Middle Class” in America.
Ms. Clinton vowed not to raise taxes on the Middle Class, which she (and many others in Washington) defines as anyone making less than $250,000 a year.
Huh?
I would LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE to bring home half that. It would be a real game changer for me. I work my ass off and bring home what seems to fall well above the medium household income in the US, but well below even the halfway point of what is being defined as Middle Class. You don’t need an MBA from Wharton to understand that this logic is a bit whack (It’s a technical term).
I make a good and fair salary. I’m not complaining. But I do realize that my current salary comes with some limitations in terms of life choices. For example, I can’t afford to travel whenever I feel like it. I’ll need to budget, like most Americans, for one good vacation a year. It will take discipline and planning to ensure that the vacation will be both enjoyable AND within my means. THIS is the life of someone living squarely in the middle class. But someone making $250,000 a year. Come on, now. Their salary falls within the 95th percentile. Meaning, only 5% of Americans earn more. Am I missing something here? Am I the only one seeing this huge disparity in income within this so called “Middle Class?”
I would love for someone to explain to me how exactly a quarter of a million dollars a year qualifies as “middle class?” And, then…what does that say about me? Am I now lower class? Well, hell…no wonder life seems hard some days. No wonder I can’t just go out and replace my beat up Jeep with a newer car. No wonder I eat leftovers and avoid shopping for fun. No wonder lots of things! Hell, I’m poor!
So, while I certainly agree that my end of this rather absurdly large middle class income bracket could use a tax break, I don’t get how lumping me in with the $250k/year folks helps elevate the middle class, or more specifically, MY end of the middle class. The disparity in income between the low and high end of the middle class is almost laughable. And, by lumping everyone together, who are we really helping? Who really benefits the most?
I grow increasingly tired of political rhetoric. I swing to the left of the political spectrum; however, I pride myself on being objective. I criticize Obama when I feel he’s let us down. I criticize Hillary and Sanders when I feel they could be doing more. And right now, I am incredibly frustrated by this outdated, unhelpful, counter-productive rhetoric designed to “tease” the so called “Middle Class” into believing that Washington gives a shit about us. Newsflash: They don’t. Because if they did, one of the very first things a so called Democrat would do would be to stop suggesting for one second that folks earning a quarter of a million dollars have the same financial needs as those making below $100k. How many times have you heard this rhetoric from Washington “The middle class is growing.” Yeah, by who’s definition? What’s actually growing is the number of Americans without a wage increase. The median income in the US is around $53k (US Census Data), where it’s hovered for the past several years.
I’ll finish my rant by asking this: Why are politicians using this kind of logic? What’s in it for them? Who stands to benefit from these so called middle class “tax breaks?” And how will they elevate the bottom two-thirds of this class and move this country forward?
These are big questions that after about 45 minutes of searching (not a lot of time…but still) I couldn’t find any logic-based answers, just more rhetoric.
So, what are we to do? Go blindly to the polls. Pull our respective party lever and cross our fingers? I suppose it’s better than voting for Trump (if it comes down to that). In the meantime, I think I’ll pour myself another glass of boxed wine and throw a few more quarters into the vacation fund. What more can I do?
Flip Flops and Fancy Free 