Green Tee Readings

In a spectacular entry for the Semi-Useless Cat Vacuuming Editorial of 2007, Chicago Tribune editor Timothy McNulty uses up some of his time talking about various definitions of middle class.

He notes a few different metrics (and their decidedly different end numbers) for what middle class could be, and ends up concluding that “The term middle class is used so loosely that it is a disservice to readers to use it without spelling out whom you’re talking about,” (to which I say no shit*).

To me, the most useless part is this:

There is a reason that politicians of both parties and commentators, such as Lou Dobbs, send out angry broadsides about the “war on the middle class.” Listeners — no matter how much or how little they make — can choose to believe these commentators are talking about them.

Again, no shit. Also, people who think they’re middle class when they’re making more than $100K per year? Get a grip. You might not be rich, but you’re decidedly above the bog standard definition of middle class. I know how easy it is to deceive yourself about belonging to the norm, but at some point, you have to own to the deception.

In high school I contended that I wasn’t tall* I completely ignored the fact that I almost never had to look up to see someone’s eyes, and that I could see the top of pretty much everyone’s head in hallways. I never feel tall, and I occasionally feel short (when someone 6′6″ or taller walks by, generally), so I think of myself as the proper height, and as normal.

If asked, off the cuff, what I thought the average height of a male in the US I’d say 6′. Multiple sources online claim an average height for an American male to be between 5′9″ and 5′10″. I’m 6′2″, so I’m clearly above average, but I still have to refrain from reflexively saying “No I’m not” when someone else remarks that I’m tall.

I have no idea what it’s truly like to live in a household where more than $100k is being pulled in. I do know that it’d be nice to try, and that there’s no way that I’d be just-plain-folks middle class at that income level.

For a bit of perspective, the Federal Poverty Guidline is $10,210 + $3480(n-1), where n = the number of people in a household. Put less mathematically, for one person, the guidline is $10,210 per year. If you have additional people in the household, add $3480 for every person beyond the first.

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