The middle class

[Boltlady]

Somehow I'm not sure what that is anymore. I know that there is a lower middle class and an upper middle class, but I'm unclear as to how broad a spectrum that is.

Pretty much all of the prez candidates have talked about the middle class's ability, or not, to put their kids through college. Say what? I must not have ever met anybody in the 'middle class' that they refer to because I've not been familiar with anybody who actually put their kids through college.

My daughter got through on a combination of scholarships and grants. Others that I have known have either done the same or combined working with loans. Granted in many cases the parents co-signed for the loans, but I don't think that's what they mean when they refer to 'putting' them through. They sound like they are talking about the parents who actually pay for the whole thing.

If that's what they mean, they're referring to a 'middle class' that I'm really not familiar with on a regular basis.

 

[Gramps]

I'm not sure anyone can define the classes any longer because variables play into what one can do and cannot do.

As an example I have five grown kids all of who, if you take their gross income as a base, would probably be middle class. Yet, teheir personal circumstances actually dictate how much money they have to burn on specific costs of living -- number of dependents, ages of those degendents, how long ago they purchased their homes, etc., etc., which doesn't exclude medical expenses where one family spends litterally a years income over the years on dental restructure so their kids can smile and others have few problems of that nature.

I do not think gross income should be the foundation of classes. What's left after the necessities of life are paid for is the real test. If there are no dollars to set aside for a rainy day or for retirement or other later in life costs you can hardly be classified in the same categorey as someone who does bank a tidy sum because their circumstance alloweed it.

Life is the luck of the draw in too many cases.

I have four kids who have college degrees -- one who went on full scholarships and three who pretty much paid their own tabs but two of those are still repaying loans that would scare me to death. The other one (my oldest daughter) has the best paying job of the five and an enviable position with a firm she hired into as a young (single) mother and who rewarded her for hard work, dedication, loyalty and ability in a fair manner. But one of my daughters who has been plagues with medical problems over the years fights tooth and nail to stay afloat while one of them has had few stumbling blocks along the way.

I really think there are two groups -- the wealthy and the less-than-wealthy (I hate using the word 'poor'), and either group has a wide span regarding income. There are, I have always said, the "filty rich" and the "snobish rich" and the "rich", the last group consisting more of selfmade individuals rather those inheritors.

The less than wealthy go from so-so to bader yet in a wide a scope as the wealthy do. The middle class as touted today refers to baby boomeers who just happened to be at the right place at the right time to cash in on prosperity and who, now, are finding out how the real world works. I doubt we will have a middle class before too long. It was an accidental experiment that favored some people and resulted in a situation that confounded wealthy people.

Gramps

Somehow I'm not sure what that is anymore. I know that there is a lower middle class and an upper middle class, but I'm unclear as to how broad a spectrum that is.

Pretty much all of the prez candidates have talked about the middle class's ability, or not, to put their kids through college. Say what? I must not have ever met anybody in the 'middle class' that they refer to because I've not been familiar with anybody who actually put their kids through college.

My daughter got through on a combination of scholarships and grants. Others that I have known have either done the same or combined working with loans. Granted in many cases the parents co-signed for the loans, but I don't think that's what they mean when they refer to 'putting' them through. They sound like they are talking about the parents who actually pay for the whole thing.

If that's what they mean, they're referring to a 'middle class' that I'm really not familiar with on a regular basis.