>I think that's true. But I don't think it's the perceptions that
>are screwed up, it's just that people who are at the $100k/year
>level typically are trying to live a $150k/year lifestyle, so they
>have a crushing mortgage and have given themselves goals that are
>slightly out of their reach and so they don't feel "wealthy" ...
>and they aren't! Yes, they have a lifestyle that's unattainable
>on $30k (at least for long :-), but no: they are not wealthy.
I was in a laundromat in Bedford-Stuyvesant - one of the poorer neighborhoods of Brooklyn, even though the New York Times says it's up & coming, gentrification-wise - yesterday morning. The Today show was on the TV, and there was a segment featuring eligible Silicon Valley millionaire bachelors. The manager of the laundromat, a woman with a Caribbean accent, said to the crowd, "I'd never want to marry a millionaire." One of the customers - male - asked her, "Why not?" She said, "They have more problems than poor people. The more money you have, the more problems you have." The guy said, "Yeah, when I was unemployed, I never had any bills. Then I got a job, and now it's nothing but bills. Credit cards, those are the worst. They just suck you in with credit cards." I know it's dangerous to generalize about class consciousness in America from two data points, but it's mighty tempting.
Later in the conversation, the laundromat manager said Bill Gates wasn't a bad guy because he gives away money - unlike Donald Trump, who just takes & takes.
Doug