>I know this comes up every now and then, but I still am not satisifed
>with any attempted answers. So, I ask: What is the working class? Does
>it include white collar workers? How about $150,000/month senior
>engineers? Is wealth an issue? A recent immigrant software engineer
>might make $80,000/year but (s)he may be building his/her life in the US
>from nothing, while a $40,000/year worker might have a family home and
>future inheritance (of parental savings) that could amount to say half a
>million or more.
>
>In an earlier thread, someone criticized my questions as "trial
>lawyer"ing or some such. I will try to preempt such dismissal, once
>again, by reinforcing that these are genuine questions, not rhetorical
>or sarcastic ones.
Why aren't you satisfied with the previous answers? To simply ask the questions again, implicitly dismissing the answers already given, is indeed a rhetorical device.
Of course wealth matters, as well as income. In the sense that a person with sufficient wealth can live from the return on the capital invested. A "future inheritance" doesn't count of course (anymore than a "future lottery win") given that it is wealth owned by someone else. One cannot spend or invest money one doesn't have. In fact there is no certainty when or even if one might expect to inherit. Neither can a house one lives in be regarded as capital.
All that matters is whether a person needs to work for a living or can live from the work of others. Except for the disabled, unemployed etc (who must qualify for an exemption) the working class need to work. The ruling capitalist class need not work and need no exemption.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas