[quote=UCGal] . . . Start being grateful for that $100k or $200k, and accept that you are NOT middle or lower middle class.
Sure $100k doesn’t go as far in southern CA – but a lot of people survive on a lot less. In fact 50% of households survive on less than $63-64k.
Be thankful for what you have.[/quote]
Agree but would add that younger Gen X and Gen Y should ALSO be grateful that:
their parents had dental insurance available to them for their families and the vast majority of them who needed orthodontia got it … yes, even those on aid;
nearly all of them who wanted to go to college were able to, due to prolific aid and available student loan programs;
they were properly diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD and other developmental delays as infants, toddlers and VERY young schoolchildren and were immediately placed into AVAILABLE appropriate programs at school to overcome their disabilities to successfully mainstream and graduate from HS (this is a BIGGIE);
their birth defects (even cosmetic ear pinning, cleft palate, etc) were fixed ASAP after birth, even if their parents couldn’t afford it;
as babies and toddlers, they sat in specially-made car seats inside vehicles and the driver and all passengers wore seat belts, which all vehicles were sold with;
physical and sexual abuse of children is now a crime;
Head Start and other pre-K programs were available and widely attended;
they didn’t get mumps, measles, chickenpox and rubella, due to being vaccinated as infants and booster shots as young children;
regardless of ability to pay, congenital orthopedic problems such as severely pronated feet/knock knees and scoliosis, etc, was repeatedly casted when their bones were soft (as infants) so they didn’t carry the problem (and ugly orthopedic shoes and braces) with them to school;
males didn’t have the draft to contend with;
low income health insurance (abt $37 mo per child) was/is avail for Gen Y thru college (known as “Healthy Families” in CA);
and, Gen Y was allowed to scan their lunch cards in the school cafeteria and receive a lunch without being embarrassed because they paid little or nothing for it (different-colored lunch tix and different lunch lines for free lunches caused teens from previous generations to throw together a lunch from home from scant groceries or avoid lunch altogether).
Each of these developments, by themselves, might not seem like such a big deal to a lot of Piggs. But all you have to do to have a full understanding of what I am talking about here is get 12 American 60-year-olds in a room (rich or poor … doesn’t matter), give each of them this list and ask each one point-blank how their lives would have been different if they had had access to ANY of these things.
