Quote:
Originally Posted by kutulu
Be that as it may will, but the fact remains that it still puts you in at around the top 5%.
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Of the country, yes. Locally, no. Locally I am somewhere between the top 37-43%. I'd call that middle class. The fact is that the cost of living adjusts it's self with the mean income in a given area. I spend around $3.05+ per gallon on gas when people elsewhere pay $1.50-2.00. I obviously pay a lot more for housing. The housing prices in my area rival Honk Kong and Manhattan, the most expensive in the world. While I'd love to try and use the money I make to help and balance the out of control war train we call a budget, I do have costs of living. High costs of living. If I did the same job I do here in, say, Arkansas, I would be making somewhere between $60-70k a year. Where does that put me? I'd say that's middle class. Remember that this equasion has a lot of variables, like adjusting for local inflation.
I spend my extra money on my daughters college fund and retirment. I haven't been on a vacation in 5 years. I have a modest home with modest amenities (30 inch tv, basic dish network, dial up internet, copmputer, and my reading chair). I'm not rich by American standards. If I had my income elsewhere, I might be, but that's not the case. I am not elsewhere.