[quote=ltsdd][quote=flyer]If Americans are really concerned about their future and the future of their children, they should be very concerned that only 10% of Americans are millionaires, and around 80% of all workers (which would encompass those from both parties) earn around $50K a year.
It’s clear that the wealth gap, among all economic strata is continuing to widen in this country, and it will be interesting to see if either candidate, if elected, can change this trend going forward. If not, there should be a lot of very disappointed voters.[/quote]
The reality is that $50K/year is a lot of money in many parts of this country. One could do OK even in some part of this county. A household with two working adults making $100K/year is probably solid (upper)middle class. . . [/quote]This is true. It reminds me of all the relatives I have in “flyover country” who are/were “professionals” such as teachers, school administrators, policemen/women or civil servants married to same or other current/former “white collar” workers such as secretary/admin/insurance personnel who all successfully retired before age 62 on pensions and retirement funds they set aside while working. Even though their state/county/city/admin jobs paid lower than CA and they didn’t get COLAs (if civil service/DOD workers), they are better off financially than the vast majority of longtime CA residents are. Of course, they all paid off their large all-brick “retirement homes” situated on 1/2 to 20 AC between age 45-55, and, of course, they had far less of a mortgage to pay off than we in CA do.
I have to laugh at Trump’s comment, “I love the poorly educated,” because the “poorly educated” actually do the real work that keep this country humming along … such as truck driving, etc. I have a favorite uncle who is more like my cousin because he is just a few years older than me (will get his first SS check on 10/1 … Yay!) I stayed with him and his spouse for a few days in their well-appointed guest room on this last trip. He has a grocery pension (his spouse has a teaching pension) but he is still working FT nearly every day and is still very physically fit. He leases some of his land for cattle ranching, bales hay for neighboring ranchers and has his own herd of cattle to oversee, plus horses and dogs and a boatload of farm equipment. One morning when I was there, he decided to separate his calves from their moms to wean them. I went with him and watched him expertly herd all 18 of his calves into a 25 foot trailer and take them to another pen where he used his dogs to quickly corral them into it, away from their moms. It was a sight to behold! It took him less time to do this than it takes me to pipe up my semi-ancient desktop computer every morning and download the msgs from my two e-mail accts (not counting the spam folders). That’s with or without a cup of coffee in my hand!
When I visited him as a child, I watched him break 3 different horses at ages 12-14.
Um . . . the “poorly educated” or “high school graduates” in this country are what made it what it is today. They are the actual machinery which made America run for every American citizen and I agree with Trump in that they should be respected. Not every boomer and beyond could afford college or was even inclined to attend and it didn’t make any difference in their quality of life or quality of retirement because they lived within their means all their lives in their (flyover) home state and now, in “retirement,” have everything they want and need and often much more.
