privileged middle class

[angie7]

Glad to see I'm not the only one. I had a guy walk up to me a few weeks ago at a show and say "what are YOU doing with a car like this?" I said "I worked hard for that car, why not me?" He kinda snickered and wandered off. I had a few kids ask if I was a doctor to afford a car like that and the typical "must be nice" comments. Whatever. But the "privileged middle class" comment rubbed me the wrong way. I manage my money very well. My bf and I are LUCKY and WORK HARD for our 3 nice cars, house, dogs and kiddos.

[Cuda7050]

Originally Posted by MBS

I use to drive mine to do estimates for peoples homes , 40% said "Nice car is this going to cost me more since you got such a nice car." ( I am now driving my gas hog van just to get more jobs and avoid that situation )

That's funny, my sister is definitely rich. But when she meets with contractors to get quotes for work on one of her properties she leaves the Mercedes and diamonds home. Drives a ten year old Honda accord and wears a simple gold band ring to get reasonable estimates.

[The_Blur]

I still can't reasonably get my hands on a Camaro and customize it. After years of working, I still have college to pay off.

If you're fortunate enough to have been set up to get into a Camaro, that's awesome. I'm going to ride out my old Firebird for a while.

[kevinw]

Cuda 7050. is your sister single? lol.

[Cuda7050]

Originally Posted by kevinw

Cuda 7050. is your sister single? lol.

Nope, married to a surgeon.

[fbodfather]

I did not read thru the entire thread - but I know of a few 'young-uns' who are envious of what I-- and others - have.

What they don't understand is that it takes a lot of hard work and 20 hour days and 7-day weeks over many years to get where many of us are.....

I keep hearing about the cost of a college education - so I went back and found my student loan papers - and went out onto the 'net to find a calculator......

In today's dollars, I borrowed $102,000 to go to college - and I paid an interest rate of 8 percent. I paid it off with hard work. My first 'living room furniture' was the redwood porch furniture from my parents' front porch.

I just go nuts when I watch some of these TV shows where a 23 year-old walks into a house or apartment and complains about the kitchen or bathroom...(This will need to be completely torn out!)

I remember Grandmother Settlemire sitting me down as I graduated from college....

She said "See here!" (and when Freda Settlemire said "see here!" - you'd BETTER pay attention!) She said "See here! You need to understand that you need to 'make do' - you can't have the standard of living right now that your parents have! It took them 30 years to get where they are! Don't borrow money for things! Pay cash! Learn to 'make do!"....."

And you know - she was a very wise person - (and I miss her so....)

The bottom line: the world does NOT owe anyone a living. And anyone who makes a crack about "privilege" needs to be put in their place.

(...want me to loan you some black suburbans to make the point???)

[red70tvhs]

Originally Posted by fbodfather

I did not read thru the entire thread - but I know of a few 'young-uns' who are envious of what I-- and others - have.

What they don't understand is that it takes a lot of hard work and 20 hour days and 7-day weeks over many years to get where many of us are.....

I keep hearing about the cost of a college education - so I went back and found my student loan papers - and went out onto the 'net to find a calculator......

In today's dollars, I borrowed $102,000 to go to college - and I paid an interest rate of 8 percent. I paid it off with hard work. My first 'living room furniture' was the redwood porch furniture from my parents' front porch.

I just go nuts when I watch some of these TV shows where a 23 year-old walks into a house or apartment and complains about the kitchen or bathroom...(This will need to be completely torn out!)

I remember Grandmother Settlemire sitting me down as I graduated from college....

She said "See here!" (and when Freda Settlemire said "see here!" - you'd BETTER pay attention!) She said "See here! You need to understand that you need to 'make do' - you can't have the standard of living right now that your parents have! It took them 30 years to get where they are! Don't borrow money for things! Pay cash! Learn to 'make do!"....."

And you know - she was a very wise person - (and I miss her so....)

The bottom line: the world does NOT owe anyone a living. And anyone who makes a crack about "privilege" needs to be put in their place.

(...want me to loan you some black suburbans to make the point???)

One of the, if not the Wisest posts I have seen on this forum. Im sure your grandmother was a wonderful lady

[Childs Play]

I'd honestly never buy my kid a Camaro. It's stupid if you actually want your kid to live past 19. Some can handle it. Very few though.

I don't believe you're spoiled though if you drive a Camaro. Spoiled would be driving an M3, Porsche 911 GT3, or LP-560. That's spoiled.

I will however point out to a kid who tries to talk crap to me about his car, that his parents bought it. 9/10 times I'm right.

I'm a jerk sometimes.

[LSXaddict]

Yeah I get this crap all the time. People can't wrap their head around the idea that 20 year old with some drive and determination and a passion for cars can buy himself something like my SS. Plus they all think it's 50k car.

[With envy]

For the most part, we still get lots of compliments (almost daily). But I know there's lots of people around here that think that way. I just think they're not brave enough to say anything to my face.

Lets face it, this is just a dividend of the class warfare crap that is drilled into people these days: Hate everyone that has more than you, and consider everyone that has less, a victim of those people. Irregardless of the circumstances of how either side came to be where they are.

I find "Privileged Middle Class" to be a laughable label. We live in America (most of us), we're all privileged! Think that sounds ridiculous? Consider a couple of these little head-scratchers:

In the other parts of the world, malnutrition and starvation are the greatest threats to poor people. In America, obesity is the number one health threat to poor people.

In America, poor people are known to live in their cars. In most of the rest of the world, you have to be wealthy just to own a car.

Living here is a privilege, and I have no plans to apologize to anyone for it.
Confronted with the same circumstances, punching, as one poster mentioned, sounds fun, and I don't carry my tax statements around like another mentioned, but I think I'd take another tack. I'd tell them that I'm almost 50 years old. This is the first "new" car that I have ever owned. Prior to that I drove what I could afford to pay cash for. Mostly used beaters. I've worked hard all my life to get here. Many back-breaking dirty jobs.
Then I'd start to show them all the scars I still carry from those jobs:
Grease burn on back of hand- first fast food job.
Stitches- aquarium factory
More stitches- plastics factory
Abrasion and nerve damage- sandblast nozzle
Blown out knee- lifting truck frame...

...The list goes on.

I wonder what they'd call me then?

I dunno,... maybe creepy.

[DRKS1D3]

Don't you just love the world we live in? A world where class warfare is all over the place. Divide and conquer...Josef Stalin's handbook. You're no longer congratulated for working hard, you're criticized by those that have not.

[Glen e]

I really wish the mods would take all these threads that degenerate to other stuff than camaro and stick it the junk forum...this crap really gets old....and please don't tell me not to read it, it's everywhere here - 20 year olds vs older members...all the time...

[flyinlow]

The difference for me is that when I was 20 and saw what older people had, I knew I would have to work for it to get it. And there are alot of kids today that still get it, it just seems like there were more that got it when I was 20 than there are today

[TPAJETSKI]

It's threads like this that make me wonder what they are talking about on the C6 board.