Dear Person in Charge of Important Things,
Hey you. The middle-age white male with the $2,000 suit. You're probably a CEO or lawyer or tobacco exec who brings in more money when he sneezes than I do all year. You've worked hard your whole life and you don't think the middle class has it so bad. All they'd have to do is work hard, like you did, and they can be rich, too! It's the American Dream, right up there with going to the moon and all day passes to Disney World.
I am writing to inform you that, no, dear possibly-an-oil-tycoon, my middle class life isn't as charmed as you like to think. I'd like to break it down for you, in terms that you can understand (monetary ones) to try to show you what the reality of a middle class income living the American Dream really looks like.
I'm a single mom, so I have one income, and I have three lovely children. I make approximately $40k a year as a teacher, which is awesome because I have the summers off, right? (We'll get to that in a minute). Where does that decent and livable amount of monthly money go, you wonder?
I'm glad you asked!
After my retirement, health insurance, taxes, and other miscellaneous items come out of my check each pay period, I bring home a net amount of $1,760.
My expenses each month are $2,310.
At this point, you have noticed something interesting about my income/expense ratio. After all, like me, you have a degree (maybe) or at least made it through enough of private elementary school to realize that I have more money going out than coming in.
You are tempted then, to chastise me and ask me to cut down on my spending, so here is an itemized list of my expenses.
Mortgage (recently refinanced) : $1,150
Electric Bill: $150
Water Bill: $100
Internet Bill: $50
Cell Phone Bill: $50
Daycare Bill: $810
Easy! I just have to cut down on.....Oh, you noticed that, too? That I didn't include food, gas, or clothing in my expenses? Only the necessities? A phone, for emergencies. Water and heating, so I can drink water and not die in the winter. Internet so I can work at home while my kids are sleeping. Daycare, so I can work and provide for my family.
At this point, you are wondering how I'm not floundering in credit card debt, and the truth is, that sometimes I am. However, being clever and a hard worker, as your kind is always suggesting one be in order to be successful, I manage.
This is how:
I work 40 hours a week in the summer, which I use to put in an emergency account and pay off credit card debt that I accumulate during the school year to get by.
I work a second job during the school year, which adds 10 hours a week to my workload and $460 a month to my net pay.
$200 of my gross paycheck goes pretax into my daycare FSA.
Let's add the extra income of $660 to my $1,760, so we have a more accurate reading.
Each month during the school year, I bring in $2,420.
Each month, during the school year, for necessities I pay $2,310.
That gives me $110 a month to pay for car insurance, any medical bills, and other unforeseen expenses (think car maintenance, new furnace, field trips/activities for the kids, replacing old clothes, my phone getting dropped and broken by my two year old), not including the gas I need to get to work and the food I need to feed my kids.
In case you were wondering, I take ZERO dollars from the government. I am not costing you a thing.
Am I your success story? I've cut out all the extras, I work three jobs, and I don't take handouts. Yet, somehow, I feel like there is something missing from your formula.
What's missing is my kids, and the time I don't get to spend with them because I am working or too tired to give them as much as I know they deserve. What's missing is the traveling to new places and meeting new people. What's missing is the leisure time with friends and family who make me laugh and hold me up when I want to cry. What's missing is life.
I am working myself to the bone and barely squeaking by. And I'm not a high school student working minimum wage. I'm a teacher, who went to school for 5 years for her degree, who continues, amidst all the other obligations of life, to attend classes and educational opportunities. I'm a professional who sleeps 5 hours a night, juggling three children at home and 200 hundred at the schools where I teach. I'm a mom who chooses every day to stand up and go to work when all I want to do is fall down and go to sleep. And I'm not the only one.
So, Mr. Policy Maker, who came from a family with money and now, either through donations to politicians or by legislating, is creating the economical environment in which I work; who is influencing decisions about how much I do or do not deserve to get paid; who encourages tax breaks and refunds to people making 100 times as much money as I do; who sits back and thinks about how to cut government expenses and line his own pockets; dear sir, I implore you to knock it off.
Remember that the middle class is still here, still fighting, still watching. You may not hear our voices on the news or in the public sphere because we are too busy working. But with luck, you will hear us through our votes and our wallets. And if we keep on like this, we may not have any other choice but to shout out loud.
All the best,
Me
Hey you. The middle-age white male with the $2,000 suit. You're probably a CEO or lawyer or tobacco exec who brings in more money when he sneezes than I do all year. You've worked hard your whole life and you don't think the middle class has it so bad. All they'd have to do is work hard, like you did, and they can be rich, too! It's the American Dream, right up there with going to the moon and all day passes to Disney World.
I am writing to inform you that, no, dear possibly-an-oil-tycoon, my middle class life isn't as charmed as you like to think. I'd like to break it down for you, in terms that you can understand (monetary ones) to try to show you what the reality of a middle class income living the American Dream really looks like.
I'm a single mom, so I have one income, and I have three lovely children. I make approximately $40k a year as a teacher, which is awesome because I have the summers off, right? (We'll get to that in a minute). Where does that decent and livable amount of monthly money go, you wonder?
I'm glad you asked!
After my retirement, health insurance, taxes, and other miscellaneous items come out of my check each pay period, I bring home a net amount of $1,760.
My expenses each month are $2,310.
At this point, you have noticed something interesting about my income/expense ratio. After all, like me, you have a degree (maybe) or at least made it through enough of private elementary school to realize that I have more money going out than coming in.
You are tempted then, to chastise me and ask me to cut down on my spending, so here is an itemized list of my expenses.
Mortgage (recently refinanced) : $1,150
Electric Bill: $150
Water Bill: $100
Internet Bill: $50
Cell Phone Bill: $50
Daycare Bill: $810
Easy! I just have to cut down on.....Oh, you noticed that, too? That I didn't include food, gas, or clothing in my expenses? Only the necessities? A phone, for emergencies. Water and heating, so I can drink water and not die in the winter. Internet so I can work at home while my kids are sleeping. Daycare, so I can work and provide for my family.
At this point, you are wondering how I'm not floundering in credit card debt, and the truth is, that sometimes I am. However, being clever and a hard worker, as your kind is always suggesting one be in order to be successful, I manage.
This is how:
I work 40 hours a week in the summer, which I use to put in an emergency account and pay off credit card debt that I accumulate during the school year to get by.
I work a second job during the school year, which adds 10 hours a week to my workload and $460 a month to my net pay.
$200 of my gross paycheck goes pretax into my daycare FSA.
Let's add the extra income of $660 to my $1,760, so we have a more accurate reading.
Each month during the school year, I bring in $2,420.
Each month, during the school year, for necessities I pay $2,310.
That gives me $110 a month to pay for car insurance, any medical bills, and other unforeseen expenses (think car maintenance, new furnace, field trips/activities for the kids, replacing old clothes, my phone getting dropped and broken by my two year old), not including the gas I need to get to work and the food I need to feed my kids.
In case you were wondering, I take ZERO dollars from the government. I am not costing you a thing.
Am I your success story? I've cut out all the extras, I work three jobs, and I don't take handouts. Yet, somehow, I feel like there is something missing from your formula.
What's missing is my kids, and the time I don't get to spend with them because I am working or too tired to give them as much as I know they deserve. What's missing is the traveling to new places and meeting new people. What's missing is the leisure time with friends and family who make me laugh and hold me up when I want to cry. What's missing is life.
I am working myself to the bone and barely squeaking by. And I'm not a high school student working minimum wage. I'm a teacher, who went to school for 5 years for her degree, who continues, amidst all the other obligations of life, to attend classes and educational opportunities. I'm a professional who sleeps 5 hours a night, juggling three children at home and 200 hundred at the schools where I teach. I'm a mom who chooses every day to stand up and go to work when all I want to do is fall down and go to sleep. And I'm not the only one.
So, Mr. Policy Maker, who came from a family with money and now, either through donations to politicians or by legislating, is creating the economical environment in which I work; who is influencing decisions about how much I do or do not deserve to get paid; who encourages tax breaks and refunds to people making 100 times as much money as I do; who sits back and thinks about how to cut government expenses and line his own pockets; dear sir, I implore you to knock it off.
Remember that the middle class is still here, still fighting, still watching. You may not hear our voices on the news or in the public sphere because we are too busy working. But with luck, you will hear us through our votes and our wallets. And if we keep on like this, we may not have any other choice but to shout out loud.
All the best,
Me
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