Oprah's Repeat
Oprah's repeat show this past Thursday:... "What Is Your Class?"...
Began her show saying 40% of America's income is owned by 1% of the richest people and that middle class is all but disappeared... Boy, do I agree with that!
Even with 2 parents working, those that call their self "middle class" are mostly people in very deep debt, and I don't consider that "middle class" if you aren't really making it without the kind of debt that you could never really pay off unless you sell everything you own.
She discussed issues as to what makes you think someone is upper or lower class.. re: education/ job/ cleanliness, and asked if you can "see" lower class people by the way they look. She had some people in the audience that she asked how they can see if someone is lower class. The so called "indicators" were: appearance, poor table manners, lack of diction and cursing, were what they said were clues to the lower class person.
There were some she asked if they would date someone who was of a lower class than they were.(income) Their response was mostly "no".. I guess that means only "money counts", forget if the person is a good individual.
Later in the show there was a doctor that agreed that Middle Class was all but gone, and getting worse all the time. Well gee.. let me see... the fact that everything has gone up in price until only the rich can afford it might have a little something to do with that!
When I was younger and married my husband bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a half acre of land in Florida..the cost was just a few thousand dollars over double his Annual Income... today most would have to make 250,000 dollars a year to find that same home for 500,000.. sorry I can't say I know many folks that earn 250,000 a year.. not that there aren't any.. I'm sure there are quite a few, but "middle class" they would not be. The price of the house in Florida is now the price of a car... the same car that is a necessity for getting to work each day.
I know I'm not middle class anymore.. and haven't been for some time now. I was born very poor, married and my husband worked his way up to "middle class".. I can't even say if it was upper or lower middle class. Now I'm old and divorced and back in "P"-poor class, back where i started.
Oprah's show made me mad the first time I saw it... and it made me mad again today. Why is this happening? Is it the people's fault? Is it the governments fault?
Why is it only 1% of people in America are the "upper class".. with middle class all but gone from the running.. and leaves most of the 99% of the people in the "low class"?? 1% of Americans own 40% (FORTY PERCENT! THAT'S NEARLY HALF!) of ALL of America's income... while 99% split the other 60%..
Something is definitely wrong with that.
Your thoughts?...
Began her show saying 40% of America's income is owned by 1% of the richest people and that middle class is all but disappeared... Boy, do I agree with that!
Even with 2 parents working, those that call their self "middle class" are mostly people in very deep debt, and I don't consider that "middle class" if you aren't really making it without the kind of debt that you could never really pay off unless you sell everything you own.
She discussed issues as to what makes you think someone is upper or lower class.. re: education/ job/ cleanliness, and asked if you can "see" lower class people by the way they look. She had some people in the audience that she asked how they can see if someone is lower class. The so called "indicators" were: appearance, poor table manners, lack of diction and cursing, were what they said were clues to the lower class person.
There were some she asked if they would date someone who was of a lower class than they were.(income) Their response was mostly "no".. I guess that means only "money counts", forget if the person is a good individual.
Later in the show there was a doctor that agreed that Middle Class was all but gone, and getting worse all the time. Well gee.. let me see... the fact that everything has gone up in price until only the rich can afford it might have a little something to do with that!
When I was younger and married my husband bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home on a half acre of land in Florida..the cost was just a few thousand dollars over double his Annual Income... today most would have to make 250,000 dollars a year to find that same home for 500,000.. sorry I can't say I know many folks that earn 250,000 a year.. not that there aren't any.. I'm sure there are quite a few, but "middle class" they would not be. The price of the house in Florida is now the price of a car... the same car that is a necessity for getting to work each day.
I know I'm not middle class anymore.. and haven't been for some time now. I was born very poor, married and my husband worked his way up to "middle class".. I can't even say if it was upper or lower middle class. Now I'm old and divorced and back in "P"-poor class, back where i started.
Oprah's show made me mad the first time I saw it... and it made me mad again today. Why is this happening? Is it the people's fault? Is it the governments fault?
Why is it only 1% of people in America are the "upper class".. with middle class all but gone from the running.. and leaves most of the 99% of the people in the "low class"?? 1% of Americans own 40% (FORTY PERCENT! THAT'S NEARLY HALF!) of ALL of America's income... while 99% split the other 60%..
Something is definitely wrong with that.
Your thoughts?...
posted by DesLily | 8:45 AM
4 Comments:
Blogger wouldn't let me comment!! I hope it does, this time.
You would be so happy to see how BEAUTIFULLY cared for Hollywood Forever is now! I have never seen it look this good! And to think it was at risk of closing all-together! What would people do if that had happened??? I mean the family's of all those buried there.,..and the History that goes with it!
If you define "class" by behavior, I think that's something that cuts across all socio-economic levels. I live in a nieghborhood that has plenty of lower class people in terms of income, but you wouldn't know it by the way they act.
But there is a big income squeeze - taxes and energy prices are going through the roof and wages aren't rising nearly enough to cover those increases. Unless you're a politician - they seem to get huge pay increases every year. Must be nice.
I saw that show the first time. I thought the "class" statements were very telling. You know, the "cursing" and that sort of thing signs of low class. I wish more people would act classy regardless of their income. I don't care about others' income (I'd be a hypocrite if I did), but I sure don't like vulgarity.
The NY Times (Sunday) did a series about this last year and while it was no surprise to me, it was very maddening.
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