Struggling middle class

If you listen to the political rhetoric, you may believe that the entire middle-class in America is struggling to survive.  To me that means that the middle-class has no money to spend beyond what is needed for food, shelter and basic clothing.  While I have no doubt there are some people in that position, I believe we call them chronically poor.

Today we have a new definition of struggling it seems.  Today that includes not only needs but wants and desires as well.

If the middle-class is struggling how is it possible:

for there to be nail and beauty salons on every corner, for cable TV to thrive, for Disneyworld to keep its gates open, for money to be spent on tattoos, for iPhone sales to zoom with each new version, for designer clothing lines to survive along with $200 sneakers, to spend money on $40,000 pick-up trucks, to keep restaurants open, to spend outrageous sums on sporting events and concerts and to download music, videos and games … and much more?

When I was growing up on the 40s and 50s I never heard the words poor or struggling, not because my parents had a lot of money, but because they spent what they had on rent, food and clothing and we had what we needed.  There was occasionally money for dining out (especially when you include $0.12 White Castle hamburgers on Sunday afternoon), but never a long or luxurious vacation, presents were modest and my mother never entered a nail or beauty salon in her life … but I sure remember the smell of those home perms.

If I wanted something I earned the money, virtually all the money I had to spend from age 10.  That included collecting soda bottles for the deposit, shining shoes, raking leaves and shoveling snow, selling greeting cards door to door and having an afterschool and weekend job from age fourteen forward.  Perhaps today that is what you call struggling, we used to call it working for what you want … and sometimes need … like a new package of green plastic soldiers or a pea shooter.

Is struggling paying off student loans as a result of going to college? My version is going to school nine years at night and on weekends while my wife did most of the raising of our four children.

Strip away all the frills and spending on wants and desires and you will be hard pressed to make the case the middle-class is struggling for much.  However, that doesn’t stop politicians from making their case for greater income redistribution in the quest to do, well, I’m not sure exactly what.

What is your definition of the struggling middle-class?