| I think the problem is that it's futile to try to draw a dividing line between "middle class" and "rich." "Middle class" is more of an idea of a kind of life-style than it really is an income level. I am quite confident that many people earning $500,000 a year or even more consider themselves to be middle class, even though obviously they earn much more than the vast majority of Americans. They consider themselves middle class, though, because they work for a living, are not from families of inherited wealth, and don't spend as much on luxuries as people with more money than they do. In other words, people with BMWs consider themselves middle class because they don't have Rolls-Royces. At the other end of the spectrum, people who are earning $40,000 will consider themselves to be middle class if they have a house to live in (even rented), a car, and a TV. They will consider people who don't have those things to be poor. (Note: there is no "working class" in America except for the working poor.) |