Myth of the middle class: Most Americans don’t even have $1,000 in savings

Myth of the middle class: Most Americans don’t even have $1,000 in savings:

thisismeerkatable:

billiethepoet:

salon:

American politicians constantly speak of the middle class. Democrats, Republicans and even many independents all insist their policies defend it.

But what does it really mean? This question is rarely asked. What exactly is the middle class?

A new study suggests that the U.S. hardly even has one.

More than half of Americans — 56 percent, to be exact — have less than $1,000 combined in their checking and savings accounts, according to a recent survey, Forbes reported.

0.1% of Americans have as much wealth as the bottom 90%. It’s time to stop saying “middle class”; it does not exist

I spend a lot of time thinking about the differences between the middle class as an economic categorization and a social class.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about class issues in Making A Murder. There was definitely an element of “look how the system fucks these poor people” and I’ve read more than one article describing the Avery family as “very poor”. But they aren’t. They are small business owners. They’re probably doing better than the majority of Americans, as well as the majority of Mantiwoc county. Really, because of their family structure, they probably have a better inter-generational transmission of wealth than most people. They just didn’t have the social and cultural capital to present themselves as anything other than “poor” to an audience.

It’s a really disturbing “othering” of classes based on social acceptability rather than economic security. When you think about the “poor”, odds are that you’re in that group. When you think about the “poor”, remember that’s how most Americans live.

My father likes to say he’s poor when he isn’t. Not only does he make good money, but he has assets, including a house in a good neighborhood. My brother mentioned this study and my dad said that he has less than $1000 in savings which makes him poor like he’s always saying. Regardless of whether I believe that, it’s amazing how people who are incredibly well-off can convince themselves that they’re poor because they’re not as rich as the richest people. It’s such a forced perspective on wealth and life.

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