I don't know why so many people think we should actually have a goodly portion of the population actually living in third world status...in order to be considered poor.
There are individuals even less fortunate than myself, but that does not make me non-poor.
bravo.
I know that I am somewhat more fortunate than you are because we talk, so I all up in your business and all.. .. LOL BUT, that doesn't make me 'well-off'.. not by a llllllloooooooooooongggggggggg shot. By the standards I heard the other day that defined 'middle class' I am middle class.. and frankly, that's bullshit. Because I'm not.. I'm upper-poor-class..
IMO middle class means you may have some of the amenities out there and you have something left over out of every paycheck to put away. You have health insurance,car insurance.. gas money.. and food money..maybe a movie once or twice a month.. along with the rent/utilities.. You may have 1 or 2 cars.. maybe even a boat..that to me is middle-class.. the higher up you are in that structure the more 'stuff' you have or money you have left over.. thus the 'upper middle class' tag.. well, the definition I heard was a yearly income from 30K-60K.. wtf? You can't live on 30K a year. not and have the things I listed above so that's not 'middle class' imo, that' 'upper-poor'
do I have tv/internet.. yep. But I have two teens and need the internet/comp.. so I 'budget' for that. We also don't own a single 'laptop' or 'video game player'.. and both kids have a 'smart phone' that they paid for themselves with their birthday money. The only reason they even have phones (which we just got 3 years ago btw) was because I lucked into a MetroPCS sign-up contract that they don't offer anymore but as long as I keep the 3 phones on it, I can keep the contract.. $25 a month for each phone.. unlimited text,calls,and media usage.. Same with my cable. I got my cable contract about 15 years ago and we lucked into a sweet contract.. so I'm always running about $50 less than everyone else because I just happened to sign up at the right time.. so does that make me 'rich'? Hell no. The oldest has a UTI that I can't take her to the doc for because I didn't have the money for the visit.. luckily I had the meds in the cabinet that could clear it up or it would have been a $1000 er visit for a $40 problem..
My car is a paid for 1997.. hubby's is a paid for 1998.. they're jeeps, both over 120K miles.. luckily he can usually fix any problems with them so we've been very lucky on that front.. but does having 2 cars mean I'm rich? Nope.. it means I'm lucky because if I lose either one tomorrow, I can't replace them.. because I don't have the money to buy one or pay on one monthly.. I don't even have the cash to help the oldest buy her own car.. she's 20 and still doesn't have a car.. she can't find any work other than when she works with me or her nightly part-time gig, but that doesn't matter anyway because she wouldn't have a ride to work even if she did find a 'real' job.... it'd be nice if we had mass-transit but hey, that's European socialist shit right there..
The idea that people can live off of minimum wage is bullshit.. I get well over minimum, and I can barely live off it..the idea that someone has to look like a starving Somalian to understand what poor is, also bullshit. Don't tell me I don't know what poor is, don't tell Chuck.. don't tell the people who are around us.. we know what it looks like, what it tastes like, what it smells like.. trust me, we know.
