The Middle Class Task Force, chaired by Vice President Biden, has been working to define exactly who “middle class” Americans are.
On the White House blog, Executive Director of the task force Jared Bernstein suggests that middle class people have an annual income of about $50,000. They also, says Bernstein, share lots of typically American dreams that can no longer be realized on that $50,000 a year. You know, American dream stuff like home ownership, good schools, affordable health care, college educations, comfortable retirements, and even a meal out now-and-then.
“The task force will focus on making the American dream accessible again to the middle class,” promises Bernstein, dreaming big himself.
Bernstein also cites his boss’ idea that middle class families are those who can’t afford to miss more than two or three paychecks without running into financial difficulty.
The goal of the Middle Class Task Force is no less than “raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America,” and Vice President Biden welcomes your suggestions on how that goal might be reached, as long as your suggestion is 5,000 characters or less.
Comments
$50,000 a year in Iowa might be middle class, but what about people who live in high cost areas such as Los Angeles. I a police officer making $110,000 a year and I wouldn’t consider myself wealthy. I would be living in poverty for $50,000 a year in L.A. The tax rate should take into consideration the area that you live in.
Al — Thanks for serving your community, be safe. And, yes, taxes should be adjusted based on locality.
Robert
I relocated to KY. from GA. and the living expenses in this state are higher. I have never been considered as a middle class person because it takes every thing I make to care for my family. I am a simple person just trying to survive. Where is our break, that is, those of us who pay their bills every month to help the economy on an income of 50,000 or less. The wealthy could take a larger hit on taxes to ease the burden on those who make them wealthy.
We need THE FAIR TAX people! If you don’t know what it is,educate yourself at fairtax.org. April 15th will be just another nice spring day!
What a stupid way to define class.
I am also concerned that Mr. Biden’s Middle Class Task Force has chosen $50,000 as the basis for a middle class income. Echoing Al Lopez’s comment above, while that may suffice in lower cost regions of the country like parts of the South, Midwest, and West, it simply isn’t enough in any major metropolitan area to attain the traditional benchmarks of middle class life in the United States: purchasing a home, covering medical expenses, and having the werewithal to retire with needing to worry about basic expenses.
In New York City, where I live, while a person could “live” on $50,000 per year, they would hard pressed to buy a home – even with the first time home-buyer program. Consider that for someone new to the New York housing market the cost of rental housing alone requires between $24,000 and $60,000 per year: renting a 1-2 bedroom aparment ranges from $2,000 – $5,000 per month. Consider that when buying, many, if not most, apartment buildings require a downpayment of between 10% and 20% of the value of the apartment; in my neighborhood (the far north end of Manhattan — a traditionally middle class/working class area!) 1 bedroom apartments now routinely sell for $350,000 and 2 bedroom apartments go for $600,000 – $800,000! This means somehow saving a downpayment ranging between $35,000 and $160,000! While I would agree with anyone that this is a crazy amount of money to pay for 800 – 1200 square feet, this is the housing stock available to us and if you want to own this is the requirement. This leads me to ask: how is a single person making $50,000, let alone a family of 4 surviving on the same amount, realistically supposed to save anywhere near $35,000, let alone $160,000? Again, echoing Al’s comnent, even if a person had the werewithal to save for the two bedroom apartment, they really would not be considered “wealthy” in Manhattan.
Perhaps we need to begin considering the possibility that large cities will soon no longer offer a viable place for the middle class. As they become more expensive and incresingly cater to wealth, they have entered a cycle of wealth reinforcing and attracting wealth. But then, maybe this isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe this is an opportunity for the middle class to reconsider the American Dream and to decide that it may not really be worth the sacrifices required to live the dream. How fufilling really is the 70-80 hour a week job with the two hour commute, when you arrive home at 7pm to snatch a hurried hour with your children? Maybe we will begin to see a reverse migration from the larger cities to smaller cities and towns as the middle class pursues a less capital-intensive standard of living. Maybe a change like this actually bodes well for us.
Setting the definition of “Middle Class” at an income of $50,000. is simply another step in eliminating the Middle Class as a significant portion of the population. Basically, it is redefining the Middle Class from “that class which has sufficient economic resources to live in reasonable comfort and security and with sufficient resources to take risks and to engage in independent business ventures” to the new definition “that class which has the privilege of paying for all its most basic needs without those needs being financed by government – but darn little beyond that meager reward.”
Now, it is indeed better to be able to pay ones own bills than to be forced to rely on the uneven wisdom of social support — but it is pitiful compensation indeed for thrift and hard work. Increasingly – for almost all working persons, even the educated – it is the only reward which the ceo’s and bankers are willing to offer. It is a wonder that anyone at all is still willing to work.
How about a fair definition in today’s enonomy?
The richest individuals have between 50 and 100 billion dollars – not counting the extra billions they have hidden in “charitable” foundations that provide “executive” positions and partying for friends and relatives. If they have over 100 times as much money as you, you would not consider yourself to be in any way in the same class. So let’s define upper class from 500 million on up. Similarly, the Middle Class are those persons with between 5 million and 500 million – these people have similar opportunities to the classical definition (and content) of Middle Class. The “Lower Class” has between $50,000. and $5,000,000. dollars. What class has below $50,000? None – because the social safety net provides much greater than this level of “wealth” just for being alive. One way or another, a person consumes in excess of $10,000 per year for food and shelter, not even counting “free” emergency room use. This is the equivalent of “owning” a $200,000. annuity with lifetime payments – so that is the minimum wealth whether one works or not.
The above demarcations of the classes can be related to income as opposed to wealth by making an appropriate conversion.
Charities usually consider that they can expend their resources at a rate that increases with inflation if those resources are expended at a rate of 5% of the capital. Thus an income that is secure for 40 years could be considered equivalent to wealth of 20 times that amount. (You can’t save all of it, as there are ongoing expenses.) Thus if you are just starting work and are lucky to have a $40,000. salary that is 100% secure your “equivalent wealth” is $800,000. If your job is not secure or you are nearer to retirement, your EW is less, perhaps not much more than your income.
Middle Class at 50K, are they high? We need to definitely take locality into the picture. This whole definition is a way to classify anyone making a decent but not decadent existence as a tax source. What kind of message do we send if we’re telling our kids to educate themselves, work hard and get a good job, then enjoy the view as Uncle Sam takes from them to give to those less fortunate. I give to charity, I don’t need the government doing it on my behalf without my say so. Don’t even get me started on people who are whining about “my house isn’t worth as much as I paid for it” get over it.
Haven’t you people watched even one episode of “Rubicon,” AMC’s provocative new series that airs in the same time slot as the brilliant “Breaking Bad?”
A handful of white, wealthy assholes with douchebag names (like ‘Truxton Spangler’) run everything. Not everything in their country or state or neck of the woods. EVERYTHING. Everywhere.
The rest of us? Pawns on a chess board, my man.