Last wednesday, I wrote a diary about single payer healthcare. I had not expected it to become a big discussion, but it did, and I learned a lot.
I learned about why single payer is a good idea for this country, and I learned about how many people support this idea, and I got to read some very personal stories from Kossacks about how their healthcare expenses are affecting them.
And it led me to wonder: what does 'middle class' mean?
I ask partly because it's a good political discussion--what's best for the middle class and who will best create that. But in order to have this discussion, we need to have some definition of middle class.
(More after da bump)
Most definitions of "middle class" are definition by exclusion: middle class isn't poor and isn't wealthy. This is an OK definition, but I want something firmer.
Other definitions go by net worth, and assign some number: middle class people have a net worth of between $25,000 and $250,000. If this were the right definition, man, that would really turn things on their heads. Lots of people with moderate or even high income have lots of debt and few real assets. By this definition, the ranks of the poor are swelled to include people with homes and cars and lots of consumer debt. Does that seem right to you? It doesn't to me.
Other definitions go by income: $25,000 to $75,000 per year. OK.
And still others go by a squishy indicator: middle class people are those who have a cushion against poverty in the form of assets or high skill level.
This last definition seems best to me. It is squishy, but in light of what I learned from my last 2 diaries/discussions, this is what really matters.
No matter where you live, what you earn, what you do for a living, or how big your family is, the real measure of financial security is
- How long could you keep up your basic expenses (home, auto, insurance, food, medicine, basic entertainment, debt service) without an income?
- How many added expenses could you take on? What if you were sued and needed a lawyer? What if you needed some dental work? What if you needed a new car? How many straws would it take to break the back of your financial camel?
- Are you able to save money month-to-month, year-to-year, or are you going deeper into debt as time goes by?
and a new one for the housing boom of the 00's
4) Is your home (if you own it) mortgaged over 80%? 90%? 100%?
An interesting concept: many people who are middle class or below vote Republican because they either perceive themselves to be wealthy or they think they will be wealthy in the near future and want the low-tax climate there for them when they make it big. This is one of the reaons (one of many) why the Democratic party has lost some middle-class voters in the last two elections.
My question to you is do you perceive yourself to be wealthy? Middle-class? Poor? Working class? Something else?
More tomorrow.
Don Overwith