They do point out that it varies by location, but really their number range is terrible. "classified a family of three earning $133,000 to $400,000 in 2024 dollars as upper middle class." From the HUD Section 8 income limits [huduser.gov], expensive places the lower end of that is considered low income, like San Jose 143,600 qualifies for Section 8, versus cities like Akron where 72,250 is low enough to qualify. Location, location, location.

You know, there is a TON of land and cities between the coasts,,,,,with tech jobs and reasonable costs of living....

You do not need to live in NYC or Silicon Valley or anywhere in CA for that matter to earn 6 figures and have. A VERY comfortable life and work in pretty much any industry you can name.

Aside from a very few outliers, like NYC or the like with ridiculous costs of living...across the vast majority of the USA, $133K - $300K+. Annual income is VERY easy to live off of.....

There are plenty jobs of all types with good pay in areas with reasonable costs of living....

Remember the US is a very large country....there's opportunity everywhere...and living outside of NYC doesn't mean the alternate is rural and on a farm...lots of smaller cities out there that are much nicer to live in, not only fiscally, but healthier and calmer too.

I'd say the better argument is that we should be evolved enough now to know that a highly successful capitalist economy is maybe not the best goal for human happiness, even if it does seem, empirically speaking, to produce the most powerful economies on the planet.

Well...I'm pretty happy,

But sure, you can say capitalism sucks...BUT, it sucks a whole lot less than every other type economy ever tried on earth to date.....

Hmm....over the years, I've had several girlfriends report loss of appetite after trying to watch a lot of Monty Python with me......

It is something to do with 2 X chromosomes...?

The MAGA true believers are just like that drunk guy in the strop club that believes the stripper really loves him.

Wow, just realized it has been YEARS since I last went out, cut loose and had fun at one of the local "strop" clubs here in New Orleans....

Basic epidemiology: when a vampire feeds on a person, that person also becomes a vampire, and vampires are immortal. So it won't be long before everyone's a vampire. Can vampires feed on each other? (According to Blade, there are second-level vampires who feed on other vampires.)

As I've read the books and seen the movies...NOT every victim becomes a vampire too.

Only if the vampire wants to turn a victim....they drain most of the blood to almost point of death and then have the still alive victim drink blood from them......then they turn into one.

Do you not possess an instinctive revulsion when presented with an idea so gruesome?

If it is something that will allow me to preserve, extend and improve my life?

No....not the least bit.

You don't get to create and then destroy life just to prolong yours

Why?

I made it to earth and processing oxygen...why should I not make and have the opportunity to extend my run for as long as possible?

I guess my innate sense of self preservation is much higher than yours.

I really love my life and I love being me and there's not much I'd not do to keep that going.

Why would I not?

Hey....all the smoking, drinking, general partying and getting laid as much as possible was FUN as a kid and young man.

I feel it has been a life worth living so far....sure, things are starting to fail and fall apart a bit, but whew....glad I got to travel the road I did....not boring, and really ....how much life did I lose with all that in the past?

I tell you what....I'm gonna hope vampires are REAL...and that I can become one.

No spare parts required for immortality......Just a little blood.

I'm good with that....

Hell, if there really were such things as vampires, I'd become one in a heart beat....well, err....I'd like to lose some weight first, I'd hate to spend eternity being chubby like I am right now, but I'd do it.....

I dunno about so many people I really really like being ME and would like to do so for as long as possible....and would do almost anything to prolong that.

Who cares?

I mean, I prefer the brainless version and if so....what's the controversy?

Please SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!

Are there that few people that would be willing to do just about anything to live longer or near forever???

If you don't have a very healthy sense of self preservations, then please drop out of line, but if given half the chance for much longer life, potentially having a young body again....PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY and put me near the head of the line.

LOL...you seem reallly bent up about this.

Out of curiosity, what utopia do you live in pray tell?

I pay mine off all in full at EOM....seems a nice way to get some perks, convenience and some cash back....

Shooting kids is the Number 1 reason kids die in the USA.... do those laws work ?

Oh please...this stat just is bogus.

They took the ages up past 19yrs old, I believe to 20yrs....

Legally you're adult at 18...so immediately that should be cut out of the mix, but also with ages 17-19...you're going to start counting heavily on the gang bangers who are criminals into drugs and drug wars...

Those are NOT children...they are criminal who more and more are being charged as adults.

If you took what most people consider to be actual children...1-10yrs or maybe even up to 12 yrs old....those "gun deaths" numbers plummet.

When those numbers are looked at...more kids die by car accidents.....

So please...get of the fucking high horse on children gun deaths...the REAL NUMBERS show a much different story...

And if you are not from here or don't live here....bully for you, you don't have to live with our "freedoms".....

But frankly I LOVE it here and love my country.

It seems strange to hear your rants while we still have people illegally risking death to get here.....

Look you don't have to like it. You don't have to live here in it.

And if that's your choice...fine. But otherwise it isn't your fucking business how we live here, now is it?

Why do you keep complaining about it if none of this is your problem much less none of your fucking business?