What is your financial status?

[Smash255]

Oh, I figured you wouldn't need a car, but on the other hand your neighborhood looks pretty suburban so I guess you do need to drive around sometimes.

My zip code has a population density of 15375 people per square mile. Not very suburban, nor is the lack of off-street parking. I use a car because I work in a suburb and frequently visit relatives who live out there. I mostly bike to travel around Minneapolis.

Hehehe. I knew you'd take offense to that. But, to be fair, if you need a car, you can't be living in the most urban location you can be.  I live right in the centre of the city. Owning a car would be a preposterous waste of money. Everything is within walking distance.

Ouch, BRTD. I couldn't imagine paying that. I pay $375 for rent, internet & electricity included. But then again, you earn more.

I'm looking for apts around here, studios are anywhere from $750+, 1 bedroom can start at $800, but real small ones, decent sized closer to $1,000 or more, some with utilities included, others with all utilities with the exception of electric (depending if the apartment is legal or not).  

Yikes! We have those here too, but I personally wouldn't pay that.

Don't really have any other options here, as the cost of living is quite high, though the salaries generally do reflect that (though perhaps not completely).  Being laid off obviously complicates things a bit though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh, I figured you wouldn't need a car, but on the other hand your neighborhood looks pretty suburban so I guess you do need to drive around sometimes.

My zip code has a population density of 15375 people per square mile. Not very suburban, nor is the lack of off-street parking. I use a car because I work in a suburb and frequently visit relatives who live out there. I mostly bike to travel around Minneapolis.

Hehehe. I knew you'd take offense to that. But, to be fair, if you need a car, you can't be living in the most urban location you can be.  I live right in the centre of the city. Owning a car would be a preposterous waste of money. Everything is within walking distance.

My address has a "Very Walkable" Walk Score of 80 out of 100. My car is just for traveling to work and out of the city (such as to Dude Fest.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh, I figured you wouldn't need a car, but on the other hand your neighborhood looks pretty suburban so I guess you do need to drive around sometimes.

My zip code has a population density of 15375 people per square mile. Not very suburban, nor is the lack of off-street parking. I use a car because I work in a suburb and frequently visit relatives who live out there. I mostly bike to travel around Minneapolis.

Once again, living in New Jersey things are a bit more intense.  Separated single family homes and strip malls are not urban to me.  Places like Cliffside Park and Hoboken are suburbs and they've got densities in the upper 20s and lower 30s.  But I didn't mean to hit your button, though I should have assumed that would.

Those aren't single family homes. They are >4 person housing units and duplexes populated mostly by people my age. And there are no strip malls in my neighborhood. That thing that looks like a strip mall is a restaurant. It's also the only building in walking distance with off-street parking except for the nearby K-Mart and grocery store.

Also there were only 5 precincts in the city of Minneapolis with more votes cast than mine, and precincts here are generally equal-sized in area.

[Person Man]

Actually...I think we should have a more PC way of talking about financial status without using the word "class".

Priviledged Families

Option I+- Extrodinarily Privledged Families and Persons (income greater than 5000000)
Option I-  Very Priviledged Families and Persons (income greater than 1000000)
Option I- - Priviledged Families and Persons (income in the highest tax bracket)

Government Entitlements-
Tax Emeptions
Entitlement to Summary Judgment
Entitlement to Judgments Notwithstanding Verdicts

Professionals and their families

Option II+ - Senior Professionals (175000 - highest tax bracket)
Option II  -  Professionals (125000-175000)
Option II- - Junior Professionals (75000- 125000)

Entitlements-
School Loan Subsidies
Tax Credits for Purchases



Working Families and Persons

Option III- Skilled Workers (50000- 75000)
Option IV -  Semi Skilled Workers (35000-50000)
Option  V - Struggling Workers (20000-35000)

Entitlments-
Healthcare Entitlements
Earned Income Tax Credits
Housing Subsidies

Struggling Families and Persons
Option VI+ -  Working Poor (12000-20000)
Option VI -   The Poor (under 12000)
Option VI- - The Homeless (none)

Entitlements-
Food Subsidies
Housing Subsidies
Healthcare Subsidies

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Ouch. Charleston is 32% more expensive for housing than Minneapolis.

[Torie]

I work in a suburb

EVIL

Ya that calculator suggests housing is 2.5 times higher in LA than Minneapolis. Wow. I assume that is rent cost, not for purchases.

I think it adjusts for everything. Obviously you're paying more than 2.5 times the taxes in LA on a salary of 2.5X in LA compared to a salary of X in Minneapolis.

Anyways, is LA actually more expensive than the bay area? Weird.

2,5 is a number combining rents and the cost of carrying a mortgage per the definition of "housing." It looks like rents themselves might be twice as expensive.

Well, I would assume that the bay area is at least as expensive. But yeah, these figures kind of make a mockery of this poll. My salary isn't that great when adjusted for cost of living.

Below is a shot of a duplex I own with my mother in the Los Feliz section of LA very near the Silverlake district. One unit is upstairs, and one down. Each unit has two bedrooms and one bath, 960 square feet, with considerable charm, with hardwood floors and views. Each unit has its own two car garage on the street, from which to get to the units one must go up about 30 steps. It is for the young and hearty, but is now barely within an elementary school district that is one of the best in LA, in a neighborhood now very chic, within walking distance of a supermarket, and restaurants, a gym, a Trader Joe's etc. Because of the school district, one is rented by a couple with a kid. What do you think the market rent is in a down market, where rents have dropped about 15%?  I know, because I had to drop the rent over a couple of months to secure a tenant.

[JerryBrown2010]

Middle Class

[Хahar 🤔]

What the hell do these people who make $150k do?

Parents sit in front of a computer all day doing god knows what.

[Torie]

There is but one poster on this forum, not me, although to be honest, I may get the silver,  who I think is more upper class than upper middle class, and  by a considerable margin - per my matrix. Who is that poster of whom I am thinking? 

[12th Doctor]

I would qualify as a student making between $10k and $20k... almost entirely from loans.  I finally worked out an arrangement where I will be making some earned income again, though... at least I hope it works out.

[Hatman 🍁]

Oh, I figured you wouldn't need a car, but on the other hand your neighborhood looks pretty suburban so I guess you do need to drive around sometimes.

My zip code has a population density of 15375 people per square mile. Not very suburban, nor is the lack of off-street parking. I use a car because I work in a suburb and frequently visit relatives who live out there. I mostly bike to travel around Minneapolis.

Hehehe. I knew you'd take offense to that. But, to be fair, if you need a car, you can't be living in the most urban location you can be.  I live right in the centre of the city. Owning a car would be a preposterous waste of money. Everything is within walking distance.

My address has a "Very Walkable" Walk Score of 80 out of 100. My car is just for traveling to work and out of the city (such as to Dude Fest.)

Ha, I beat you. My neighbourhood is 85. (did we do a thread on this once?).  It's too bad you work in the suburbs. That's almost as bad as living there. And, I'm sure there's other ways of going to "Dudefest".

[Sensei]

What the hell do these people who make $150k do?

Parents sit in front of a computer all day doing god knows what.

this

[opebo]

There is but one poster on this forum, not me, although to be honest, I may get the silver,  who I think is more upper class than upper middle class, and  by a considerable margin - per my matrix. Who is that poster of whom I am thinking? 

Christ who knows.  How much rent for that duplex?

[opebo]

Actually...I think we should have a more PC way of talking about financial status without using the word "class".

Priviledged Families

Option I+- Extrodinarily Privledged Families and Persons (income greater than 5000000)
Option I-  Very Priviledged Families and Persons (income greater than 1000000)
Option I- - Priviledged Families and Persons (income in the highest tax bracket)

Professionals and their families

Option II+ - Senior Professionals (175000 - highest tax bracket)
Option II  -  Professionals (125000-175000)
Option II- - Junior Professionals (75000- 125000)

Working Families and Persons

Option III- Skilled Workers (50000- 75000)
Option IV -  Semi Skilled Workers (35000-50000)
Option  V - Struggling Workers (20000-35000)

Struggling Families and Persons
Option VI+ -  Working Poor (12000-20000)
Option VI -   The Poor (under 12000)
Option VI- - The Homeless (none)

Where do some aged decrepits with $200K in rental incomes fit into that?  Oh I guess 'privileged families and persons'?

[opebo]

In my view, lower, working, lower and upper middle and upper class status are states of mind and values, and not tied to the hip to income or wealth, but of course there is considerable correlation. If anyone wants me to elaborate as to what those states of mind and values are, I will do so.

In all seriousness, Torie, you have the thing completely backwards.  Class is about power, and status merely reflects power.  The 'states of mind and values' that result from these conditions are entirely secondary to the power relationships involved, but very closely related to financial privilege or reward.

In other words, states of mind and values are beaten into most people, and conversely the states of mind and 'values' of the upper class are based upon beating others.  Or anyway having them beaten.

Its a sick, disgusting pile of apes abusing apes, my friend.

[Torie]

There is but one poster on this forum, not me, although to be honest, I may get the silver,  who I think is more upper class than upper middle class, and  by a considerable margin - per my matrix. Who is that poster of whom I am thinking? 

Christ who knows.  How much rent for that duplex?

You are the poster who is the most upper class on this forum going away opebo. Yes you!  $2,075 per month.

[MasterJedi]

Fezzy seems to think this forum is full of "rich brats" who have no idea what it's like to be poor. (like he would know). Many people have suggested otherwise, hence my creation of this poll.

It's probably a poorly constructed poll, but anyways...

Right so how was my life?  Apparently I haven't lived it well enough myself, everyone else has.  Please, I'd LOVE to hear what it is my life has been like.

"Many" have suggested otherwise?  As in three people?

That's three more than have agreed with you.

And I saw a picture of your house, that's not a house of a poor person.

coughnothishousecough

coughtherichbrathadtolieaboutittoseemcoolcough

[Badger]

Working class is the preferable term.  Low(er) class tends to denote some moral failure.

^^^^^^^^^ this.

Anyway, together with the wife we're about middle of the middle.

FWIW: I think the income divisions dividing the various levels of middle-classdom are notably higher than what national census figures show....

[DownWithTheLeft]

According the poll upper class, but that's really more upper middle where I live.  I mean Rutherford is a nice town, but my family would have problems trying to make ends meet in Alpine or Saddle River, or since everyone seems to love picking on Fezzy, Bernardsville

[opebo]

Working class is the preferable term.  Low(er) class tends to denote some moral failure.

^^^^^^^^^ this.

I like 'lower' because it reminds us that society is a hierarchy, and that the only reason the lower class is so miserable is because of the impositions of the upper.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Whereas "working class" is an archaic term which supposes that the middle class doesn't work, which isn't true.

How about the Steerage class and the Peerage class?  The middle class can be called the take-it-in-the-rearage class since the Peerage class seems to be successful in shifting the tax burden onto them.

[opebo]

Whereas "working class" is an archaic term which supposes that the middle class doesn't work, which isn't true.

Well technically the more correct European/British definition of middle class would include a great many people who don't work all that much - petty capital.  Basically my understanding of the euro idea of middle class is small business types of a certain wealth level, and highly paid professionals like doctors or lawyers. 

Regardless, the american idea of middle class includes vast numbers of people who really have no position or security but merely a tenuous job which pays enough to live.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Well, you're right.  But the American system is more "poor, middle class, rich" and middle class spans a much larger range of incomes than elsewhere in the world.

My family is working class financially, but we're not working class culturally.  There is a big difference.

You must also realize that people here don't place nearly as much on class distinction as they do elsewhere.  Whether you live in a mansion or a trailer house, the winter is still f**king cold and everybody eats McDonalds... it's part of that 'we're all in this together, for better or for worse' attitude.  It sounds like an exaggeration, but it's definitely prevalent here.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

RSA since a few days.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Upper Middle Class background; currently full-time student dependant entirely on parents. Attempts to redemy this so far have failed due to my general unemployability.