Krugman: “But they have cell phones!”

[HomerRamone]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/money-and-class/

when we talk about being middle class, I’d argue that we have two crucial attributes of that status in mind: security and opportunity.

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If you don’t have these things, I would say that you don’t lead a middle-class life, even if you have a car and a few electronic gadgets that weren’t around during the era when most Americans really were middle class, and no matter how clean, sober, and prudent your behavior may be.

<...>

surely it’s obvious when you think about it (and if you have any sense of the realities of life). A lot of Americans — quite arguably a majority — just don’t have the prerequisites for middle-class life as we’ve always understood it.

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we could, if we chose, guarantee the essentials of middle-class existence for almost all Americans; other advanced countries do it. Universal health care is the norm; we’re finally making a partial move toward that norm, but the right is fighting that move hysterically. Universal good basic education and free or cheap college education are available in other advanced countries.

[bemildred]

1. There are two classes in the USA, people with cash, and people with debt. nt

[dickthegrouch]

2. And, while Companies are not People;

Idiots like Carl Icahn want to transform companies like Apple from a multi-billion dollar cash-rich one into one laden with debt just to satisfy his greed.

[pampango]

3. "The point is we could guarantee a middle-class existence for almost all Americans, other

advanced countries do it."

The sad thing is that our fetishization of the middle class, our pretense that we are almost all members of that class, is a major reason so many of us aren't. That's why a growing appreciation of class realities on the part of the public is a good thing ..."

[NewJeffCT]

4. You can get a lot of good smart phones for free

if you just commit to a two year contract. And, some companies don't even require that much commitment. If you drop your land line, you've paid for a good portion of the monthly cost of a smart phone.

So, that's what I always say when people bring up the poor & middle class having cell phones. (Of course, it's the Obama free phone bribery program...)

[HomerRamone]

5. Some of us aren't financially secure enough to commit to a contract.

And land lines are often thrown in practically free when you get a bundle of cable and net...

[awoke_in_2003]

6. What if your credit is bad?