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If I wasn’t married, I’d have to have roommates to survive, I couldn’t afford the average 1 bedroom apartment in my area and I make over 100k
Same here. It’s depressing, too… I was really hoping to make good money, buy a good home with a nice yard, have pets and the whole thing…
I also make over 100k and I can’t afford shit. It seems like every raise is met with an increase in cost of living. I’m just lucky to have kept my head above rising water.
I also have kids, which factors into expenses and time quite a bit.
When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, 'middle class' in the US was still defined as one job supporting a family of four. In those days, $1 million was considered a vast fortune.
By the time Bush the elder left office, 'middle class' was two jobs to support the family, and $1 million was what a rich guy paid for a party.
the first person to put working class into “middle/lower/upper” was a marketing genius. wish i knew who. for there is no real “middle class” - it’s all just working class, but separated means infighting and infighting means not fighting the owning class.
Anyone know where these numbers came from?
Basic reality.
It's not a difficult search. Look up rents, and then food prices, and then average salaries.
Generally maybe. But will that guarantee someone finds 49.3%?
I don't think so. Where did that number specifically come from?
We aren't MAGA. Vibes aren't enough. "Do your own research" is a dodge when they do it. It's a dodge when we do it. Sources must to be cited.
My point is that the exact numbers are irrelevant.
In 1960, minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the cost of the average home was $11,000.00
A high school graduate could leave home at age 18 and be self supporting from Day One.
To paraphrase the book Dune, you don't need to climb top the top of a mountain to know it's a mountain.
Hard disagree on the irrelevance of numbers, I think they are the most important part
You don’t need to climb the mountain, but how much will you know about its slope and peak? (This last part sound way worse than when I thought about it XD )
You do need to climb a mountain to know how tall it is.
If you haven't, don't tell people it's 49.3 meters.
You don't, though; you can do it with math. Trigonometry is pretty useful in orienteering.
A quick and dirty method is to have something with a known height next to it and step back until the known object is the relative size of one thumb section, then count the number of thumb sections tall the unknown object is.
And that's great if you can document and explain how you you got those numbers. That's the point. You can't just say it, you have to show your work.
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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