This is kind of silly.
I'm definitely working class, like I couldn't stop working and coast the rest of my life on what I have saved now without really cutting everything to the bone.
However, I max out my 401k and iras every year. We also put enough money aside that our two kids will probably need to take out little to no money for their college educations. We are contemplating how many hundreds of thousands of dollars we can afford for a house renovation, and we can still take two comfortable vacations per year.
I'm very comfortable and know I am very lucky.
Which is why it's absurd to put me in the same category as the people who literally have cut everything to the bone and still worry about making ends meet at the end of the month. While we should still team up against the owning class, our financial situations are drastically different and shouldn't be treated as the same because that would do a huge disservice to their actual relative situation.
Whatever happened to Marx' "ownership of the means of production" definition? Also, even beyond that, it makes sense to have an understanding that the precarity felt by an upper middle class person is not remotely the same kind of daily struggle faced by a lower middle class person. Not being able to afford property vs. not being able to afford food.
Ultimately it is important to recognize that all humans in the capitalist system are recruited to participate in an extractive, antihumanist global process.
Modern feudalism in a nutshell
Exactly..
I don't think anyone has defined what "upper" "middle" and "lower" classes are too me. I just take it for granted that people who are wealthy (passive income kind of people) are "upper" class, the "middle" class is people getting by adequately. Not really suffering, or fighting to "make ends meet" so to speak, maybe a bit of savings... And "lower" class are people who struggle to pay their bills, live in low cost housing, have few luxuries, etc. Basically, how much disposable income do you have and where does that income come from?
Working, with passive income sources, or not needing to work to cover expenses, is "upper".
Working, with some disposable income, perhaps some savings, but not enough to live on to cover expenses, is "middle"
And anyone without any kind of financial safety, living paycheck to paycheck, only making enough to cover direct living expenses, are "lower".
I have no idea if that's right; nobody has accurately defined it for me. I've always considered myself kind of "lower-middle class" aka, still making enough for some luxuries, but without any significant savings or buffer for financial stability. No issues meeting living expenses.... Kind of the bottom half of middle class, if you will. My father was the same; he was much better with money, mind you, and he was able to dedicate a larger percentage of his earnings to savings. He would forego luxuries and "upgrades" to save money... As long as things worked and the family was comfortable, he was fine with putting the money away. He wouldn't hesitate to spend to replace something that's important, like buying a car to get around when the old one was too broken to work and/or be fixed. But if the vehicle worked, he wouldn't replace it just because it was a bit older.
IDK, I'm working. I need to work to afford to live. I'm almost never at risk of not being able to pay for something I need or want, aside from big ticket items (well into the thousands).... I'm just some guy.
It's a good thing that was underlined or I wouldn't know what part of this was important.
