Remember that the next time a bunch of politicians whine about how a tax cut will “merely” benefit people who earn less than $50,000 a year and not benefit people who earn $60,000 to $75,000 a year.
About 19% of the population makes between $50,000 and $75,000 per year. This is the so-called “average American” or “middle class” that the Democrats pretend to be protecting.
Mine was about average. Of course I had to take a $8,000 pay cut for this stupid-ass job I have now.
Chalk me up there with people who want to make more than other people. All things considered, I’d still go with the $100,000.
I should like to point out that how we perceive wealth has a huge psychological component. In the $200k world, there will be a wide array of luxury items that are utterly unknown in the $25k world. The $50k person, thus, will be able to afford most every luxury available, and won’t have a clue what he or she might be missing. The $100k person, on the other hand, will be painfully aware of all the really cool stuff he or she simply cannot afford.
Put the question another way:
Would you rather be upper class in the 50’s, or lower class today?
My introspection hasn’t revealed any solid answer, speaking for myself. I don’t know which I’d prefer.
But then again, if a great percentage of those 19% actually go out and vote, then a savvy politician would do well to target that demographic.
Actually, this observation makes the OP’s question answerable to me. I’d rather be in the $200K world, because I sure as heck wouldn’t want to miss out on all the “cool stuff”. Even if I can’t have the Lamborghini, there are plenty of affordable luxuries in a $200K world. I want my PS2, my internet, my Aeron chair, my SDMB, etc. And I am confident I could boost my earning potential over time so I will be able to afford the stem-cell organ transplants and nanobot insta-youth injections when the time comes.
Lower-class today, simply because I enjoy all of the material and cultural artifacts of our current information age society. The industrial age had relatively little to offer people who revel in plurality and abstract logic instead of monocultures and physical applications.
I rarely notice what the upper-class does. As long as I’m comfortable and able to pursue my avocations, I’m perfectly happy.