• givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Yeah, but like, isn’t that where the majority of people live?

        So when talking about “most places” it makes sense for it to be “places most likely for people to live”. If it was literally “most places” America is pretty fucking empty.

        I googled it, the average price for an acre in Kansas is like 3.5k.

        In “most places” it’s cheap as hell. But no one lives there so why talk about it?

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            And “flyover” states 100k a year is like a millionaire…

            So if going by “most places” you’d be using like 25k or even lower.

            I get what you’re saying semantically, it’s just that if we’re being that semantic it’s meaningless, so clearly the other interpretation is what was meant.

            Like, when someone uses “literally” you can tell what was intended.

            You didn’t notice the forrest because all the trees were in the way homie.

        • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          That’s the talking point and semantics the rich want us to believe. That there’s plenty of places to live that are cheap.

          They don’t tell the real truth that the majority of the US is desolate country and wilderness that no one wants to live or work.

        • sunzu@kbin.run
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          6 months ago

          median household US income is under 80K.

          even most major metros are still under 100k.

            • sunzu@kbin.run
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              6 months ago

              it puts you into about 60-80% of the american households.

              middle class by default would be 40-60%

              “It’s barely middle class for most places now.” is hyperbolic

              • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                That assumes a normal distribution. Wealth/income is not. An excellent resource is: Social Stratification in the United States: The American Profile Poster of Who Owns What, Who Makes How Much, and Who Works Where https://a.co/d/09LVTyYi

                • sunzu@kbin.run
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                  6 months ago

                  “middle class” then has no meaning…

                  there are wage slaves and owners. i don’t need a book to see that, i live it.

                • sunzu@kbin.run
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                  6 months ago

                  whatever a person thinks it is haha

                  however, if we rely on something about more concrete than feelz like stats, it would be the middle of the population

              • orcrist@lemm.ee
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                6 months ago

                I don’t think your definition of middle class is what most people use when they talk about it.

                This is really obvious if you think about people remarking on the death of the middle class. They’re not saying that the mean or the median doesn’t exist. They are saying that families like the Simpsons are much less common than they used to be.

                • sunzu@kbin.run
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                  6 months ago

                  They are saying that families like the Simpsons are much less common than they used to be

                  The fact that you are using a reference to corporate media to make your point gave me a chuckle lol

                  This shit is weaved so deep into social fabric, we are fucked.

  • TipRing@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    I’m in the income bracket described here (certainly not “wealthy”) and while I wouldn’t say i am struggling, I have had to cut down on some extraneous spending. Nothing like what most people are facing though.

      • TipRing@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Sorry, I absolutely did not mean to minimize the struggles of anyone else. So much of our situations are dependent on factors that just can’t broadly apply across such a broadly defined demographic.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Two observations:

    1. As others pointed out, there are an awful lot of people who live in places where $100-150k is not close to wealthy. A small number of large, expensive cities has a giant percentage of the population.

    2. How is anyone surprised that when inflation stays up for a while, people find it hard to maintain their standard of living. When you compare the person making $150k to the person making $100k, it doesn’t mean that they’re pocketing $50k every year, it means that they’re likely renting a more expensive place or paying on a more expensive car. They’re likely both just living within their means and, of you make everything in life cost more, both are going to have a hard time paying their bills. It’s not until you get to people who are making more than they can spend that that changes.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    What a joke of a headline. That’s not what making ends meet means. They are wealthy, by definition they can afford to make ends meet.

  • tombruzzo@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    If they’re struggling to male ends meet then they aren’t wealthy, are they?

    Time to move the goalposts along for what’s defined as ‘wealthy’

  • MyOpinion@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Income needed to be considered middle class in each state from Zippia report.

    Hawaii $122,695 California $111,206 Massachusetts $85,567 Colorado $81,602 Washington $81,203 New York $75,403 Oregon $74,865 New Jersey $74,485 Maryland $71,844 Utah $71,034 Nevada $70,752 Virginia $67,197 Alaska $63,873 Connecticut $63,375 New Hampshire $62,890 Rhode Island $62,691 Arizona $61,699 Delaware $60,015 Montana $59,496 Minnesota $58,903 Idaho $58,866 Florida $58,833 Texas $55,605 Vermont $55,371 Wyoming $54,849 Georgia $54,213 Illinois $53,961 North Dakota $52,935 Maine $51,608 Pennsylvania $51,346 North Carolina $51,144 Tennessee $50,629 Wisconsin $50,062 Louisiana $49,587 South Carolina $49,110 New Mexico $48,602 South Dakota $48,258 Michigan $47,044 Nebraska $46,906 Missouri $46,649 Kansas $46,485 Alabama $45,559 Oklahoma $44,008 Iowa $43,997 Ohio $43,949 Kentucky $43,747 Indiana $43,310 Mississippi $41,839 West Virginia $41,649 Arkansas $40,928

  • fpslem@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    A frustratingly empty article. Why are they struggling to “make ends meet”? What ends? If it’s housing, this is a housing story. If it’s high auto loan debt, that’s a mother matter. If it’s not housing and it’s accrued consumer debt, that’s a different matter.

    They never say, so there isn’t much to conclude from this piece.

        • Blackbeard@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Regurgitation pieces require no formal journalistic training, can be produced with almost no research time, can be cranked out en masse, and can be subjectively framed to grab eyeballs because there’s no entity able to claim libel if it’s misrepresented. It’s yellow journalism, plain and simple, and gullible rubes lap that shit up without a second’s hesitation because it tells them something saucy that makes them feel vindicated.

    • dan1101@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Yeah people tend to spend what they make. Larger incomes are spent on bigger houses and nicer cars. But larger incomes have more wiggle room to cut back and afford the basics if they have to.