odrama says it's 50-70k, mccain says its 5 million ( pretty sure he was joking ) i think you are middle class if you have a roof over your head, never miss a meal, and dont hear gunshots at night (at least not regularly ) so whats the point here? nobody really knows
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The definition wanders, usually beacuse of whatever partisan point someone is trying to make. You can look at mean household income ($66,570 in 2006 (constant 2006 dollars) compared to $66,895 in 2000 (constant 2006 dollars) though median household income is probably more telling ($48,201 in '06)) and draws a more realistic picture. You could also look at how much the middle 50% of earners make though earnings is not a reflection of class. I found this when I googled to find the info I just cited and find it a helpful reminder that "middle class" is a rhetorical concept more than an economic one.
Based on 2005 Census Bureau reports, some 40 percent of the nearly 115 million households in the U.S. earned less than $36,000 a year. That represented just 12 percent of all income. The 40 percent on the next rung up the economic ladder took in between $36,000 and $91,705 — or about 37.6 percent of all income. The top 20 percent, who made $91,705 or more, collected half of all income.
But those numbers don’t adequately reflect the state of mind of those who consider themselves middle class. Surveys have shown that, while people consider $40,000 a year to be the low end of what it takes to buy a middle-class life, some people who make as much as $200,000 a year still consider themselves middle class, the researchers said.
But those numbers don’t adequately reflect the state of mind of those who consider themselves middle class. Surveys have shown that, while people consider $40,000 a year to be the low end of what it takes to buy a middle-class life, some people who make as much as $200,000 a year still consider themselves middle class, the researchers said.
I keep hearing how the middle class is being impacted and how the middle class will reap the benefits of the stimulus, etc.
Without defining what is "middle class" I'm not sure what the impact is.
Although income is important, do other factors come in to play like number of dependents, location of residence, etc?
Is a single person making $50K per year the same as a single mother of four making $50K. Are they both considered middle class?
Without defining what is "middle class" I'm not sure what the impact is.
Although income is important, do other factors come in to play like number of dependents, location of residence, etc?
Is a single person making $50K per year the same as a single mother of four making $50K. Are they both considered middle class?
middle class people i would define as having a job, can pay their bills, aren't sucking on the government tit in anyway, have some savings stashed away for a raining day, and don't have any personal finance issues looming over their heads like how am i gonna pay my next mortgage payment or my next credit card payment or whatever....
the money issue really isn't a factor has more to do with a modest average comfortable standard of living....having financial stability....and people being self reliant employed and able to provide for their family and themselves
right now the amount of people able to do the above is rapidly shrinking and part of the reason we in trouble long term...
all great society's to live in have a strong middle class....self reliant people living a modest/average lifestyle that find a way get by on their own and take care of themselves.....
the money issue really isn't a factor has more to do with a modest average comfortable standard of living....having financial stability....and people being self reliant employed and able to provide for their family and themselves
right now the amount of people able to do the above is rapidly shrinking and part of the reason we in trouble long term...
all great society's to live in have a strong middle class....self reliant people living a modest/average lifestyle that find a way get by on their own and take care of themselves.....
yeah in the end when you go from middle to middle upper to upper class its up to your own personal interpretation
some people can make 40k and feel they live like a king and if they had 200k in income they'd consider themselves "rich"
while some people can make 200k and feel they don't have enough and are "middle class"
the separation between middle class and poor is pretty clear though
if you got no money in the bank and your job is barely enough to pay your bills or not enough you ain't middle class
like this guy used to be middle class now he;s moved to the lower/poor class
and who obama hopes to help
-----------------------------------
HAMPTON, Georgia (CNN) -- Laid-off construction worker Tim Baxter says new federal infrastructure spending could rescue him from his economic free fall -- but he's skeptical.
In the two years since the 54-year-old supervisor was let go from his firm outside Atlanta, Georgia, Baxter has exhausted his unemployment benefits and burned through much of his retirement savings while working two part-time jobs.
"My retirement money is just basically gone," Baxter said recently during a visit to an empty construction site south of the city off Interstate 75. The stress comes when he thinks about whether the economy will begin to turn around by mid-year -- or by year's end.
"I don't know that I can make it that long," he said.
As Baxter well knows, the construction industry has been among the sectors hit hardest by the recession -- drained by a housing market that went belly up. About a million construction industry jobs have disappeared in the two years since the sector peaked at about 7.5 million jobs in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Married with two grown daughters, Baxter often drives north of Atlanta on Interstate 85 and realizes he's passing a concrete barrier wall for which he helped provide materials. He said it's tough going from earning about $2,000 a week, as he did at his full-time construction job, to scraping out $400 a week between part-time jobs at a national appliance store and delivering newspapers.
All that stands between keeping a roof over his head and losing his home is his wife's office job in the county government, Baxter said.
"There's nothing out there in the commercial construction job market right now," he said. "But I stay upbeat every day. I check online job boards like craigslist and send out resumes pretty regularly."
Two key questions surround the plan to give states tens of billions of dollars to build and repair highways, bridges and water-sewer systems: How many jobs will spring directly and indirectly from the new infrastructure spending? And how quickly will those jobs be created?
About 27,800 jobs will be created for every $1 billion in federal highway construction spending under the stimulus package, said chief Department of Transportation economist Jack Wells. Roughly half of those jobs would be "induced" jobs, those "generated when highway construction workers respend their income on consumer goods and services -- like lunch at McDonald's or going to the movies or buying new clothes," said Wells.
About a third of the highway construction jobs would be directly linked to the construction sites -- including on-site workers like Baxter, and off-site workers who manufacture construction materials such as steel and concrete.
Another sixth of the jobs would be created to provide goods and services for the construction sites, including insurance and equipment rental.
At the White House, President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers has been crunching numbers on the plan and estimates that 675,000 construction industry jobs could be created by the overall stimulus bill. See details about the White House job projections »
Economists point out that this obviously won't be like Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era program that allowed virtually anyone with the strength to wield a shovel to join a construction crew or move to a work camp. Infrastructure construction jobs produced by the current stimulus legislation will largely go to workers with previous construction experience.
Baxter, however, remains skeptical that any of these new jobs will be available to him. He worries that contractors will choose younger, less experienced workers who they think will work for lower pay and benefits.
Meanwhile, Baxter's situation may be about to worsen. One of his part-time employers has announced layoffs to take place between now and summer. "What's next?" asked Baxter, acknowledging that there's little he can do to protect himself.
"I refuse to give up hope that this situation will correct itself quickly."
One of 427 cities requesting federal stimulus money through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Atlanta has requested $1.9 billion for various infrastructural projects, including improvements to its water and sewer system, parts of which are more than a century old. The city expects the projects will require the creation of 18,500 new jobs. Video Watch top engineers give the U.S. infrastructure low marks »
"Obviously these projects aren't going to solve the infrastructure need, but they will get people employed," said Atlanta Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter, the city's water and sewer systems chief. "They're projects that require a lot of people and on the construction side, they're jobs that are accessible to a lot of the workforce."
Washington has asked the U.S. Conference of Mayors for suggested projects that can break ground within 90 days of funding. This gives officials three months to collect bids from contractors and award the contracts, which some officials warn could pose bureaucratic pitfalls.
"Part of the concern is the process of moving the money from Washington through a funding program and requiring people to apply for a funding program and qualify and then get approved and then bid," said Hunter. "One of the ways to move this money quickly to get people employed is to do some prequalifications."
"What I keep hearing from people is 'Time is of the essence, we want to get people to work now,' " said Hunter. "Well, I think we need to look at how to streamline the approval of these contracts with full transparency, full accountability and no favoritism -- to get people back to work."
some people can make 40k and feel they live like a king and if they had 200k in income they'd consider themselves "rich"
while some people can make 200k and feel they don't have enough and are "middle class"
the separation between middle class and poor is pretty clear though
if you got no money in the bank and your job is barely enough to pay your bills or not enough you ain't middle class
like this guy used to be middle class now he;s moved to the lower/poor class
and who obama hopes to help
-----------------------------------
HAMPTON, Georgia (CNN) -- Laid-off construction worker Tim Baxter says new federal infrastructure spending could rescue him from his economic free fall -- but he's skeptical.
In the two years since the 54-year-old supervisor was let go from his firm outside Atlanta, Georgia, Baxter has exhausted his unemployment benefits and burned through much of his retirement savings while working two part-time jobs.
"My retirement money is just basically gone," Baxter said recently during a visit to an empty construction site south of the city off Interstate 75. The stress comes when he thinks about whether the economy will begin to turn around by mid-year -- or by year's end.
"I don't know that I can make it that long," he said.
As Baxter well knows, the construction industry has been among the sectors hit hardest by the recession -- drained by a housing market that went belly up. About a million construction industry jobs have disappeared in the two years since the sector peaked at about 7.5 million jobs in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Married with two grown daughters, Baxter often drives north of Atlanta on Interstate 85 and realizes he's passing a concrete barrier wall for which he helped provide materials. He said it's tough going from earning about $2,000 a week, as he did at his full-time construction job, to scraping out $400 a week between part-time jobs at a national appliance store and delivering newspapers.
All that stands between keeping a roof over his head and losing his home is his wife's office job in the county government, Baxter said.
"There's nothing out there in the commercial construction job market right now," he said. "But I stay upbeat every day. I check online job boards like craigslist and send out resumes pretty regularly."
Two key questions surround the plan to give states tens of billions of dollars to build and repair highways, bridges and water-sewer systems: How many jobs will spring directly and indirectly from the new infrastructure spending? And how quickly will those jobs be created?
About 27,800 jobs will be created for every $1 billion in federal highway construction spending under the stimulus package, said chief Department of Transportation economist Jack Wells. Roughly half of those jobs would be "induced" jobs, those "generated when highway construction workers respend their income on consumer goods and services -- like lunch at McDonald's or going to the movies or buying new clothes," said Wells.
About a third of the highway construction jobs would be directly linked to the construction sites -- including on-site workers like Baxter, and off-site workers who manufacture construction materials such as steel and concrete.
Another sixth of the jobs would be created to provide goods and services for the construction sites, including insurance and equipment rental.
At the White House, President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers has been crunching numbers on the plan and estimates that 675,000 construction industry jobs could be created by the overall stimulus bill. See details about the White House job projections »
Economists point out that this obviously won't be like Franklin Roosevelt's Depression-era program that allowed virtually anyone with the strength to wield a shovel to join a construction crew or move to a work camp. Infrastructure construction jobs produced by the current stimulus legislation will largely go to workers with previous construction experience.
Baxter, however, remains skeptical that any of these new jobs will be available to him. He worries that contractors will choose younger, less experienced workers who they think will work for lower pay and benefits.
Meanwhile, Baxter's situation may be about to worsen. One of his part-time employers has announced layoffs to take place between now and summer. "What's next?" asked Baxter, acknowledging that there's little he can do to protect himself.
"I refuse to give up hope that this situation will correct itself quickly."
One of 427 cities requesting federal stimulus money through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Atlanta has requested $1.9 billion for various infrastructural projects, including improvements to its water and sewer system, parts of which are more than a century old. The city expects the projects will require the creation of 18,500 new jobs. Video Watch top engineers give the U.S. infrastructure low marks »
"Obviously these projects aren't going to solve the infrastructure need, but they will get people employed," said Atlanta Watershed Management Commissioner Robert Hunter, the city's water and sewer systems chief. "They're projects that require a lot of people and on the construction side, they're jobs that are accessible to a lot of the workforce."
Washington has asked the U.S. Conference of Mayors for suggested projects that can break ground within 90 days of funding. This gives officials three months to collect bids from contractors and award the contracts, which some officials warn could pose bureaucratic pitfalls.
"Part of the concern is the process of moving the money from Washington through a funding program and requiring people to apply for a funding program and qualify and then get approved and then bid," said Hunter. "One of the ways to move this money quickly to get people employed is to do some prequalifications."
"What I keep hearing from people is 'Time is of the essence, we want to get people to work now,' " said Hunter. "Well, I think we need to look at how to streamline the approval of these contracts with full transparency, full accountability and no favoritism -- to get people back to work."
