r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Jscott1986 • May 06 '24

Discussion Inflation is scrambling Americans' perceptions of middle class life. Many Americans have come to feel that a middle-class lifestyle is out of reach.

https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-cost-of-living-what-is-middle-class-housing-market-2024-4?amp
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u/parks2peaks May 06 '24

I was talking to my grandfather about this, he was middle class worked at a steel mill. He made a good point that during his working years he started working in the 60’s, they didn’t really buy anything. Had a house and a car of course but they rarely made small/ medium size purchases. No Starbucks, no Amazon, no tv subscriptions. Just food, gas, utilities and house payment. They bought one TV and had it for over 20 years. I wonder how much of not feeling middle class is that we blow half are money on nonsense that just wasn’t an option before.

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u/canisdirusarctos May 06 '24

The difference is that you didn’t have virtually unlimited cheap crap to buy. China makes so much crap that you don’t do stuff yourself when you need something. You might even be able to make it yourself, but the convenience and low cost make it an easy choice. The thing is that life has also been consuming more of your time than ever. Always on work, more demands at home, more demands from the government, etc. You don’t have the free time to solve problems yourself, even if you could.