College Discussion - View Single Post - Are you part of the Gibson-middle class?

emeraldkity4 · 04-21-2008, 10:39 AM

I guess people like Bon Jovi, matchbox 20, Def leppard, and hundreds of others just aren't good enough.
nope

-I must be out of touch but where are all these people with a family income of $40 K?

There were many years when without overtime,( when D began college) we made before taxes $47,000. That is $22 an hour, well above minimum wage.
We also live in a high expense area,a gallon of gas is currently $3.57, public transportation is shoddy, & a gallon of milk is well over $5.

Many people with engineering/business degrees have gotten laid off when their companies relocated/or were gobbled up and are now selling insurance or working at Home Depot. Pretty hard to find a job when you are 55 and you had been making $80K.

Even my H couldn't find a job for almost two years, after his company laid him off and all but folded when our oldest was young. None of the companies that were even close to his field, could pay him what he had been making & were " sorry- but they were afraid that as soon as his original company started up again, he would leave".
Twenty years later, they still haven't reached their former size.

The US has not been the place our parents knew for decades. You do not find workers in the same job for thirty years retiring with a pension.
What you do find are retired workers, working as bagboys to supplement their retirement.
Average Seattle worker can't afford to live here

04-21-2008, 10:39 AM	#70
emeraldkity4 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Pacific Northwest Threads: 370 Posts: 5,970	I guess people like Bon Jovi, matchbox 20, Def leppard, and hundreds of others just aren't good enough. nope -I must be out of touch but where are all these people with a family income of $40 K? There were many years when without overtime,( when D began college) we made before taxes $47,000. That is $22 an hour, well above minimum wage. We also live in a high expense area,a gallon of gas is currently $3.57, public transportation is shoddy, & a gallon of milk is well over $5. Many people with engineering/business degrees have gotten laid off when their companies relocated/or were gobbled up and are now selling insurance or working at Home Depot. Pretty hard to find a job when you are 55 and you had been making $80K. Even my H couldn't find a job for almost two years, after his company laid him off and all but folded when our oldest was young. None of the companies that were even close to his field, could pay him what he had been making & were " sorry- but they were afraid that as soon as his original company started up again, he would leave". Twenty years later, they still haven't reached their former size. The US has not been the place our parents knew for decades. You do not find workers in the same job for thirty years retiring with a pension. What you do find are retired workers, working as bagboys to supplement their retirement. Average Seattle worker can't afford to live here