Do the residents of Manhattan love the luxury of a BMW and a Jaguar and
a house with a garage to park them in, preferably with a view of the
park? Or perhaps they realise that such a Manhattan is unfeasible? And
perhaps they resent the small but powerful group of upstarts who
believe otherwise and attempt to fashion such a Manhattan to their
desires?
--ravi
For me a luxury would be to be able to live in
the same apartment I have been for the past 27
years. The rent has gone up to $2300 per month
and I just discovered that I have $600 less per
month than I thought I had. Now that my wife is
working, we got bounced into a new bracket and my
4 W4 allowances were far too much. We are moving
into an epoch when middle-class and luxury are incompatible terms.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/15/opinion/polls/main2684929.shtml
NEW YORK, April 15, 2007
Nearly a decade ago, in early 1998, Americans
were more likely to feel they were getting ahead.
(CBS) The last few years have seen economic gains
for the wealthiest Americans, at least in part
resulting from tax cuts and investment gains, and
many Americans are living well buying large
homes, expensive cars and luxury products. But
has any of this wealth trickled down to the middle class?
According to the latest CBS News Poll, most
Americans and most of those with mid-range
incomes don't think so; instead, many think the
middle class has experienced tougher times. 59%
think that life for middle class Americans has
gotten worse in the last 10 years. Just 30% think its gotten better.
54% of those with incomes of $30,000 to $75,000
(44% of those who describe themselves as "middle
class" have incomes in this range) concur that
life has indeed gotten worse for the middle class.
(clip)
--
www.marxmail.org
