12-22-2008, 06:47 PM
My biggest problem is, who gets to define "middle class"? Same question about as who gets to define "rich". I don't like all the definitions and class labeling.
Example: My neighbor, two doors down, is a lawyer, his wife a full tenured professor at the local Community College. Both have good incomes by most standards. Just looking at their gross income (I'm guessing a couple hundered K a year) some would say they were "rich". What most don't know is that they have three parents with Alzheimer's (two live with them-one institutionalized), two kids in college with a third a high school senior plus one much younger daughter.
If you know anything about Medicare, you know it's not paying all the expenses for the parents. The kids have scholarships, but if you've ever had a kid in college you know there are additional expenses, like most of us they have a mortgage, normal utilities, food, taxes, insurances, taxes, auto maintenance and gas. etc. etc. Imagine my surprise when, over coffee one day, the wife tells me they've had to give up satellite t.v., all their cell phones, dinners out, vacations, movies and even their two dogs. They just couldn't afford that stuff and were struggling. Their two younger children just qualified for FREE LUNCHES!
I suspect that the 'definers' (Biden et al), will only look at their gross income and determine this couple is 'rich'. Who's looking out for the WORKING POOR?
Example: My neighbor, two doors down, is a lawyer, his wife a full tenured professor at the local Community College. Both have good incomes by most standards. Just looking at their gross income (I'm guessing a couple hundered K a year) some would say they were "rich". What most don't know is that they have three parents with Alzheimer's (two live with them-one institutionalized), two kids in college with a third a high school senior plus one much younger daughter.
If you know anything about Medicare, you know it's not paying all the expenses for the parents. The kids have scholarships, but if you've ever had a kid in college you know there are additional expenses, like most of us they have a mortgage, normal utilities, food, taxes, insurances, taxes, auto maintenance and gas. etc. etc. Imagine my surprise when, over coffee one day, the wife tells me they've had to give up satellite t.v., all their cell phones, dinners out, vacations, movies and even their two dogs. They just couldn't afford that stuff and were struggling. Their two younger children just qualified for FREE LUNCHES!
I suspect that the 'definers' (Biden et al), will only look at their gross income and determine this couple is 'rich'. Who's looking out for the WORKING POOR?