How much of that do you suppose is financed by debt? Are their jobs so secure that they can really afford such things? How much of it do they actually own compared to what's owned by the banks? (Meta-question: "Who owns the banks?") I believe that if you dig deep enough you'll find that the bulk of who claims to be "middle class" are, in fact, in debt so deeply that they'll never see the light of day. That's not prosperity; that's indentured servitude -- and also making the insane assumption that your employer is going to keep paying you so you can pay the interest on those debts.moonshadow wrote:All I hear is the death of the middle class. But every weekend in my backyard, the middle class is all I see. Every day on the interstate I'm surrounded by the middle class, take a ride through Washington County VA, middle class everywhere! These are people who live in $200,000 houses, drive $50,000 cars and $70,000 trucks.
One cannot take things at face value any longer; one needs to dig a bit below the surface. Quite clearly we learnt precisely nothing from the go-go banking mentality that pretty much collapsed the house-of-cards in '08. Predatory "lending" is as rampant now as it was in '07. Why is it allowed? Because the elites are getting wealthier because of it.
Yes, there's a lot of money out there; unfortunately, it's just clinging to fewer and fewer individuals and families. For everybody else, it tends to go out as quickly as it comes in. Spending one's self into debt to keep up with the neighbours is a waste of time and effort -- and is ultimately very dangerous. How many McJobs do you suppose the type in a $200,000 house will need to "work" to meet the interest payment alone, much less actually acquire any equity? Will the McJob be there tomorrow? Next week? What's the burn-rate? How long can they get by without a pay-check and without a safety-net? (The main reason the "unemployment" numbers look so good is because of how many people have fallen through the bottom of that safety-net and are no longer counted; this is conveniently swept under the rug by the media who refuses to talk about it.)
Recall that entire empires have gone bust because of debt. Individuals are not immune.
