I’m originally from rural Pennsylvania. My paternal grandfather ran a general store until the Depression hit, and it folded due to people being unable to pay back their credit with the store. He started rasing chickens since he figured people would need cheap protien. When things got slightly better he bcame a rural letter carrier.
In any town, a man who ran a general store OR was a sucessful farmer OR was a postman was cosidered “middle class” - only sharecroppers or day laborers or certain factory workers were considered “poor”. And my grandparents had a modest woodframe home, a coal furnace (this is PA; they had local coal), a large vegetable plot, and a hunting rifle. I remember grandpa going out to get a pheasant for dinner, and a freezer full of deer meat he’d dressed himself. Grandma gardened and canned. She repaired things and made them last. They made it themselves, paid cash, bartered or did without.
My maternal grandparents–also in rural PA near Pittsburgh–were better educated and did not hunt and can. They were an engineer and a teacher. He was with Westinghouse but was blackballed for helping unionize a dangerous plant and died soon after from sucessive heart attacks (hear trouble runs in the family, sadly). His wife and older sons took in an elderly aunt who had enough money to help them get through the rationing and poverty of the Depression. They also lived in a very modest home and made things themselves, paid cash, or did without. They were big on community through their local church and eased the pain of a lower standard of living by helping others.
In anyone’s estimation, a degreed engineer and a degreed teacher were solidly middle class, yet they did not eat out except at church suppers. Like my paternal grandparents, the family only had one older car that they worked on themselves. Vacations were visits to relatives for both families, with an occasional day trip to Pittsburgh for things like a museum or a circus or a trip to an ice cream parlor. (I still recall the midnight ride on a baby elephant when Ringliing Brothers was unloading their circus train!) So I read the earler so-called description of middle class and said, “Sez who?”
I categorically reject the definition of “middle class” at the start of this thread. But then, I rejected my compatriot’s definitions of sucess and fiscal responisbility a long time ago. I was taught to only take out a loan for three things in life: to buy a house that was basic shelter (only when I could afford it! rent until I could afford it!), to buy a “basic transportation” car to get to a job if needed (I’ve commuted on a bicycle as much as 10 miles each way), and to get credentials (if required) or tools to make money. That’s it. I’ve watched the madness of our society telling us we needed more, more of everything that makes us work ourselves to death as slaves to credit card companies and mortgages that are far beyind our means. I don’t need a nice dinner out every week (and not at Denny’s) - my grandparents and parents MAYBE went out to eat on anniversaries and nowadays my idea of a date is to go out with my sweetheart for an ice cream at McDonalds - I would rather eat my own cooking and spend my money on my garden.
I don’t NEED vacations 1,000 miles away or more to feel as if I am a member of the so-called Middle Class. Those are wastes of time and money, and I say this as someone who worked for American Airlines for five years (flight benefits: $200 round-trip ticket to Africa, anyone?) I was at a convention in San Jose two summers ago and in NY this year. Those trips were for my career and my family. Dad was a teacher and mom was a chemist, but the first time ever went to Disneyworld or Disneyland I was 50. I could have lived without it but one of my kids now lived nearby, so why not go to Epcot for a day?
So am I middle class according to the arbitrary defintion Poet quoted? Proabably not to some: even though I am a degreed engineer and my husband has 32 years doing techincal work with a Fortune 50 Company and clients that are lining up to hire him as a consultant when he retires. Do we save 15% of our income? That depends on your definition of “save” - I consider our sustainable lifestyle investments and our investments in our children as savings for our old age. We can some of our home-grown food and use solar hot water and a clothesline, and have a well (which just tested potable, yay!) I invested in an airtight woodburning stove, a grain grinder, outdoor cooking facilities (a must in the deep south) and we are about to buy a treadle sewing machine.
One thing I do know. The “middle class” in the next 20 years will look very different than the “middle class” for during the last 20 years.
However if being “middle class” means not living paycheck to paycheck unless you have cheap credit…many of us are gonna be scr*wed.
All I can think of is Ferfal’s blog and how the reasonably comfortable became the destitute. When the fiat money collapses, will you have a way to make a difference? Either we weather the storm or we do not, but lets; do what we can to up the odds that we will? Something as simple as a clothesline instead of a dryer can makew a difference. Something as easy as planting a fruit tree adds to the positive momentum. Bulding relationships with neightbors, learning what wild plantsa are edible, making sure you have access to fresh water and a sanitary way to deal with human waste are essential skills.