Poll: More than 60% of middle class say they’re ‘struggling financially’ and are not expecting things to turn around for the rest of their lives

The moment enough of us decide this has to change, it will.

Relink productivity and wages! 90% tax rate on all the cash you earn in a year after the first $10M Close corporate tax loopholes

We can solve this, we just need to decide.

Maybe a general strike is out and we should just start a quiet friday strike, and just start extending that back through the week. Productivity just keeps falling until the wealthy decide they don't want to suffer with the rest of us and take the fucking haircut.

If you're struggling financially, you're not "middle class".

I certainly don't expect things to turn around in my lifetime. The future I want would require radical, systemic changes, but most Americans don't want anything to radically change. That doesn't mean a majority of Americans are happy with things the way they are, not at all, but they don't want to radically change anything, despite their unhappiness. The majority of Americans want things to get better without anything fundamentally changing. I believe that's one of the definitions of insanity.

If we're not expecting anything to ever get better, there's a solution to that too; rather the opposite of "business as usual."

That's not middle class...

I don't know if it has its own name, but it's like the Overton window in politics.

Average people assume that they're average and middle class means average, so they're "middle class" despite having three figures in saving, no home equity, and a retirement account that will never be enough to retire.

Prior generations at least built up home equity over a lifetime.

"65 percent of Americans who are considered “middle class,” earning above 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), are in a financial struggle. "

That sounds more like a problem with the definition of the federal poverty level than it is a problem with the middle class.

If you're struggling, you aren't middle class.

Federal Poverty Level for 2024 is dependent on household size:

https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/federal-poverty-guidelines/

Oh, man, now I have to see if Lemmy can do tables... Hmmm nope!

Size - 100% - 200%
1 - $15,060 - $30,120
2 - $20,440 - $40,880
3 - $25,820 - $51,640
4 - $31,200 - $62,400
5 - $36,580 - $73,160
6 - $41,960 - $83,920
7 - $47,340 - $94,680
8 - $52,720 - $105,440
Each person over 8, add $5,380 - $10,760

So let's take the prototypical nuclear family, 2 parents, 2 kids.

$62,400 is 200% poverty. I could see that being a struggle. I think maybe what we need is to re-define the poverty level.

Size - 100% - 200%
1 - $31,200 - $62,400
2 - $36,580 - $73,160
3 - $41,960 - $83,920
4 - $47,340 - $94,680
5 - $52,720 - $105,440
6 - $58,100 - $116,200
7 - $63,480 - $126,960
8 - $68,860 - $137,720
Each person over 8, add $5,380 - $10,760

Yeah, and consider how bad it is for the class below the middle class. We're literally fucking drowning in debt.

Oh sweeties, you were never middle class. You were always working class and they gave you a special name so you could feel better than Dave the Binman.

A feature, not a bug of an oligarchy and an economy run by effective monopolies.

You will own nothing and be happy.

Have they tried investing in GME? and Hodling?

To hell with the middle class, what about the working class? You know, the ones that get all the physical labor done so you can get your next day Amazon order before hitting the Starbucks.