[ryandrake]

I always thought all that numerous stratification into "upper middle class" and "lower middle class" and "upper lower middle class" and "lower middle upper middle class" and so on was kind of pointless and only serves to either 1. satisfy people who feel the need to precisely identify their own position on the totem pole or 2. pits people against each other who are actually in the same class and should be fighting together.

Most of us are N missed paychecks away from being broke. For some, that N is 1 or 2, for some it's 5, for retirees, the number may be even larger; but we all inevitably need money from our labor to come in in order to live. And this is true regardless of the dollar amount on that paycheck. We're all in the same boat.

For a very few lucky people, that N is infinite because their money grows faster than they can spend it. They get richer just by existing.

To me, these are really the only two meaningful economic classes. Do you have to work for your living or not?