In case you haven’t noticed, we’re already there.
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Only in a country that gives up on taxing inherited and therefore unearned wealth-
The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size, acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and … a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion, and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.
Teddy Roosevelt
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Yeah. . . ya see, cost is the problem with that.
I’m thinking something more like this:
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I seem to remember this being called “working poor” not so long ago. Maybe ALICE is less off-putting?
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Hey, if a U-Stor-It is good enough for Hiro Protagonist… 
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Yes. It looks like this is the term the researchers are applying to downwardly mobile middle-class people, in contrast to the working poor who’ve always been stuck there.
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“ Umair Haque (previous) connects this to the idea of America as the world’s first poor rich country”
American exceptionalism at its finest.
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In other words, the US is an undeveloped developed country.
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FTFY
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In some cases, this can be a thing.
“They start to feel a little bit of an ownership over the house, but it’s still a historic house museum. And you start to burn out—living where you work is very difficult.”
Lucy Strackhouse is senior director of Preservation & Property Management at Fairmount Park Conservancy and manages the caretakers living in the park’s historic houses. She remarks, “It’s not really the romantic ideal that some people think it is.” In fact, she sometimes tries to talk people out of taking the position.
“Make sure you know that this [home] has an old furnace and you may lose heat for two days before we get someone over there to fix it,” Strackhouse will warn applicants. “Or, the internet may not work well because you can’t get cable to the building. Or, it’s on septic tank.”
She continues, “We have amazing historic houses that are very, very charming, but they’re all quirky. So we really have to find people that are very tolerant and embrace that sort of lifestyle.”
… but it helps to own nearly no possessions, and to be rather handy with tools and maintenance equipment.
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I guess you can’t get anything you want.
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it’s a wonderland.
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If you’re born rich, live rich, and die rich … then yes, that’s an aristocracy.
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Only if you take wealth to be the only measure of class. Which it has never been, not even in modern-day America.
Query: Has any nation ever been so willing to be exploited and impoverished by their leaders? Including their chosen leaders?
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Roommates. As a member of the working poor having two roommates is what keeps my head above water. $340-ish in rent + utilities per month each in a small city where the going rate for a one bedroom apartment is currently ~$800 + utilities.
If health issues didn’t prevent me from working more than casual hours I could actually earn a real wage north of $30k instead of $15k I could be debt free in a few years and start saving, assuming I didn’t change my lifestyle in regards to unnecessary spending.
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Just judging from personal experience and almost everyone around me, the only reason i feel like we aren’t all completely destitute and homeless is because we’re able to live with vast amounts of debt. Like i don’t know hardly anyone my age or younger (I’m 41) who isn’t in debt by thousands and thousands of dollars. And I’m talking about people generally perceived as doing well with jobs and apartments. I feel like as a country and individuals we’re all just pretending it’s ok, fixing our immediate problems by putting them off for a later date. Seems like a really dangerous scenario unless something changes soon.
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And none of this addresses the next generation (like my daughter who is graduating today from HS) who are literally REQUIRED to go to college and get a degree to even have a chance at many of those jobs that don’t pay enough to live let alone pay enough to cover the cost of having gone to school.
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"You get your pension “raided” (read: stolen) by hedge funds, you get your income decimated by “investment bankers” [CITATION NEEDED]
1000’s and 1000’s in personal debt (credit cards, personal loans, even car loans) then add in student loan debt still being paid off (my spouse went back for two post grad degrees which totaled another 100k) and then a home (depending on where you live even a modest home could be 250-500k easily)…it’s terrifyingly sobering.
And we work for employers who give 1-6% raises while still making massive profits year over year.
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