Lizzie I was referring to the perky titties. I didn’t see any lady with a tea tray.

@Elizabeth

How the word Byzantine turned from a noun to an adjective?

“they were given numerous opportunities to creat a Palestinian State, but rejected them all in favour of constant jihad against Israel. ”

I don’t know if this is true. Already a lot of people have made thier minds up and the precipitating events are now so long in the past that they are beyond contest.

God Have Mercy on Us all ..since we fail to have any upon each other.

The answer is, “what penis?”. Then point and laugh.

Really the main reason I come to the Cat is to see if there is an answer to the “Palli Intransigence” theme.

You people have your own views .. I respect them …

The way I have had a whole personality and political perspective invented for me..

All the better to slag me off.

Worth putting up the detail here. Basically similar to Australia but some differences due to the welfare nature of the State, which applies across the board, whereas it doesn’t in America.

A strong case can be made that assessed by characteristics of middle class security and prosperity rather than income, the middle class has effectively shrunk to 10% of households as only the top 30% of households earn enough to afford what was within reach of the top 60% in decades past.

By definition, the top 20% cannot be “middle class.” The top 20% is comprised of the upper-middle class, the wealthy and the super-wealthy (the 80% to 95% bracket, top 5% and the top 1%).

Attempting to define the middle class by income alone is futile due to regional differences in costs and purchasing power. $100,000 annual household income that will barely pay rent and necessities in a major metro city can stretch considerably further in smaller cities far from high-cost zones.

Regardless of income, households that are living paycheck to paycheck don’t qualify as middle class if we qualify “middle class” by these characteristics:

In Why the Middle Class Is Doomed (April 2012) I listed five “threshold” characteristics of membership in the middle class:

1. Meaningful healthcare insurance (i.e. not phantom coverage that only kicks in after thousands of dollars are paid in cash).

2. Significant equity (25%-50%) in a home or other real estate.

3. Income/expenses that enable the household to save at least 6% of its net income.

4. Significant retirement funds: 401Ks, IRAs, etc.

5. The ability to service all debt and expenses over the medium-term if one of the primary household wage-earners lose their job.

I then added a taken-for-granted sixth:

6. Reliable vehicles for each wage-earner that are fully covered by insurance.

Author Chris Sullins suggested adding these additional thresholds:

7. If a household requires government assistance (SNAP, Medicaid, rent subsidies, etc.) to maintain the family lifestyle, their middle class status is in doubt.

8. A percentage of non-financial hard assets such as family heirlooms, precious metals, business equity, rental income property, land, etc. that can be transferred to the next generation, i.e. generational wealth.

9. Ability to invest in offspring (education, extracurricular clubs/training, etc.).

10. Leisure time devoted to the maintenance of physical/spiritual/mental fitness.

Correspondent Mark G. suggested two more:

11. Continual accumulation of human and social capital (adding new skills, expanding social networks and markets for one’s services, etc.)

And the money shot:

12. Family ownership of income-producing assets such as rental properties, bonds, etc.

The key point of these thresholds is that propping up a precarious illusion of consumption and status signifiers does not qualify as middle class. To qualify as middle class (that is, what was considered middle class a generation or two ago), the household must actually own/control wealth that won’t vanish if the investment bubble du jour pops, and won’t be wiped out by a medical emergency. In Chris’s phrase, “They should be focusing resources on the next generation and passing on Generational Wealth” as opposed to “keeping up appearances” via aspirational consumption financed with debt.

So how much does it cost to meet these qualifying standards? Two generations ago, public school teachers, healthcare workers, skilled craft workers and others with median-level incomes could meet all of these qualifications, for the purchasing power of their earnings was extremely high compared to now. A median wage bought a lot of shelter, vehicle, healthcare, college education, etc.

According to the US Census Bureau, Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022. (Source: Income in the United States: 2022) This is the “middle income” that presumably qualifies as “middle class,” but it would take extreme frugality and sacrifices to stretch $75,000 to cover the qualifications listed above, even in low-cost regions.

As a general guideline, $75,000 would only stretch to meet these qualifications if 1) the family home was owned free and clear, i.e. no mortgage, either via inheritance or extreme efforts such as building your own home with cash savings, 2) no student loan debt, either by gaining desirable skills outside college or completing college on scholarships, with family financial aid, etc., and no vehicle loan, i.e. a reliable used car/truck that is owned free and clear.

These may strike younger readers as impossible fantasies, but as I’ve often noted here, forty years ago I worked my way through a four-year university program with part-time jobs and built a house from scratch with only savings, income from temp construction jobs and a $5,000 bank loan ($17,000 in today’s dollars) which we paid off in two years.

Even with extreme frugality, this debt-free lifestyle is no longer within reach of the non-wealthy, as costs for college, land, permits and building materials have skyrocketed, along with the costs of healthcare, insurance, vehicles, childcare, etc.

I submit that for most households in higher-cost regions, these qualifications can only be met with an annual household income of $150,000 or more, which according to the Census Bureau, is the cutoff level for the top 20% (top quintile) of American households.

According to the Census Bureau, the top 20% earn 52% of all income, and the top 5% earn 23.5% of all income. The top 10% of households have an income of $216,000 or higher, and the top 5% have incomes of $295,000 or higher. The top 1% bracket is $867,000 and up. (TableA-4a, Income in the United States: 2022).

In lower-cost regions, it may be possible for frugal households in the 70% to 80% income bracket to qualify. According to the Census Bureau, this bracket earns between $118,700 and $153,000. This 10% might qualify as middle class. Households earning less would likely qualify only if they inherited significant wealth from their families or received substantial financial aid from their families, such as college paid for in full, a down payment for a home purchase, etc.

In summary: if we set minimum standards for qualifying as middle class by what was within reach of typical American households two generations ago, relatively few households qualify as middle class. Middle class means more than being able to charge a lavish cruise or foreign vacation on a credit card or buying a new truck with a huge loan. It once meant owning assets, not owing debt on assets.

The answer is, “what penis?”. Then point and laugh.

Exactly! enything more is just babbling.

Exactly! enything more is just babbling.

No, the penis is just the insult component.

Not worth much if you don’t point out the real differential.
The height of the basketballer who is male.

Enjoy Trondheim, Calli.

I think winter or approaching winter is the best time to visit the Arctic.

Summer if beautiful there but winter is what the deep north is about.

If you get to Tromso, don’t miss seeing the Cathedral of the Arctic, in winter.

@ Rabz

Why arent you the clever one? Wanna find out ? You have to dig Her up and ask Her…

Shame …

The Big Bang Theory – Sheldon making fun of Howard and Penny

@ Rabz

But I am getting what I came here for. An Idea of the sort of mindset you people have.

Complacent, uncaring, unfunny, snot gobblers at an “insiders only “.. Oh gosh arent we all hillarious !!? Slapping each other on the back …. Folks pretending to be seeking Truth.

@Rabz

as It happens my Mum did wear army boots ..when she was on this side of the turf…

so slap your knees and see how funny you are… Got me a biggie there Sparky …

Complacent, uncaring, unfunny, snot gobblers at an “insiders only “.. Oh gosh arent we all hillarious !!?

Did you not get the applause you were looking for at the lollipop blog?

Make your point, and defend it if necessary. That is the nature of debate.

If you turn up here – or anywhere – and obfuscate, fence-sit and be deliberately obscure, of course you’re going to be ignored or taken to task.

This giant display of sookage demeans everyone. Mainly you.

@Knuckle Dragger

If I am undecided about a certain controversy what is wrong with not having an opinion? And even if I did, here is scarcely the place to try to engage in worthwhile discussion.

The point of the Powerline pic was that these yoof feel absolutely entitled in the rightness of their opinions about everything, and would happily take on the instruction of ‘lesser mortals’ in earlier times; these yoof however not having much in the way of scientific analysis and knowledge to guide them in their ‘teaching the ancients’ project. Dumbed down schools and universities are to blame for that.

Dinner now, then the second hour of Outsiders and another hour of The Crown.

Another very good lazy Sundy around here.

Cheers rosie.

And even if I did, here is scarcely the place to try to engage in worthwhile discussion

Look. Champ.

This is one of – nay, the – greatest and most robust platforms in this wide brown land. This is the home of ‘worthwhile discussion’, and you actually don’t discuss anything.

It’s like listening to the mad uncle at Christmas you are subjected to every year as small children. ‘When I was in prison, I used to – oh, look at that bird. I give birds my own special names. Anyway, I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time’.

What do you expect? By the way, you appear to be pretty thin-skinned for a bloke that apparently showered with other blokes for years on end. Even that story turned into a remarkable shadow of The Shawshank Redemption.

Lay off the LSD strips and just make a point.

dover0beach
Nov 19, 2023 7:09 PM
By at latest the 1970s, those “camps” were comprised of multi-story reinforced concrete apartment blocks.

Puts a different light on the “refugee” status. Not quite glamping, but certainly not the Somalia/Kenya border style. For all practical purposes, except harassing Israel, they were migrants settled in a new country.

Not really. Some of the camps may have become apartments but they weren’t all like that. Not at all, certainly not in the 70s. Further, they were still stateless. They weren’t incorporated pre-67 nor post-67, except in Jordan.

They were still stateless, probably for two reasons:

First, no Arab nation wants them as citizens, which might say something about them;

Second, Arab nations saw value in having the large population of “refugees” as a means to stir up trouble with Israel.

If human habitation in the Americas predates Clovis, you have to wonder if people slowly adapted to become smaller and smaller?

You realise you are heading deep into the giant race of Tartaria…..

@ Knuckle Dragger

I already did … I made it abundantly clear. I am a student of propaganda … I like to go where it is promulgated and get the feel of it.

The reason why I gave a truthful account of my background is why I always do. To see if I can find some commonality with the people I am hoping to engage with… invariably their life experiences will be different from mine.

But I love the words “I dont know” …

shatterzzz,

Being alive is costly but compared to the alternative it appears to me to be cheap at this moment of time.

That is certainly one of the spins

The Left and the taqiyya jockeys are in overdrive.

Far-left Tries to Deny Israeli Women Were Raped, Assaulted During Hamas Attack (17 Nov)

Many other stories around about such contortions and gymnastics. They can’t cope with the idea that Hamas muslims are bloodthirsty baby killers. So they deny reality. Their imaginary world is quite intricate, and a complete fantasy.

You realise you are heading deep into the giant race of Tartaria…..

I swear I have provided an X-ray, an excerpt from Lewis and Clark’s diaries and contemporaneous accounts of discoveries in the popular and academic press.

It doesn’t count?

Okay. I’ll make You Tube account and drive around random cities and assume any building I can’t get in is run by the Freemasons.

The reason why I gave a truthful account of my background is why I always do.

You told us you did 12 years for a very serious crime (you say you were falsely accused) and yet you can’t say what years you went in and out of Acacia Prison.

This is very strange. You have used your “real name” but me asking this question is doxxing you?

Bizarre.

A brunette in a red dress…

The greatest music video of all time.

Rabz,. At the risk of being door knocked by JC’s goons, I am prepared to humbly suggest that Christina may be a challenge to the magnificant Kate Hepburn.

No no, please don’t hit me again, I’m sorry.

‘Candyman’ is an extraordinary production and she gives most of those four octives a workout. Shame about the fat calves!

@Knuckle Dragger

as I said before … I never said the things you attribute to me … but do congratulate you on making out as if I did … it makes your outrage so much more justifiable…

That is the nature of propaganda.

To quote the late great Proff Julius Sumner Miller

“Beautiful to contemplate” …

Kohli gone. Call centre blokes now 4/148 after 28 overs.

So far, so good.

You’re not going to get rid of Hamas. You might dent it temporarily but it will only multiple following these events.

I shouldn’t ask since my is let the Israelis do what they see fit. Thay have enough outsiders stirring the pot.

What is your solution?

@ Rabz …

Mate either “cold spoon time ” or go some manual relief…

Where is your head?

@ Rabz

Must confess .. the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak… some dribble e did go down my chin .. but not a word to Mother 😉

The call centre operators have a loooong tail.

5/178 now. 15 overs left. Straya will not be chasing 300+.

The reversing pill will not make it easier.

@Rabz

I dug Mum up asked her .. yeah she was fine with the crack about “Army Boots” ..and gotta tell you .. I walk in Hers.

No Harm no foul .

Peace Brother !

Legitimate Grievances news (the Hun):

A Jewish man has been assaulted outside a Bentleigh East synagogue in what police are treating as a “racially motivated” incident.

The Herald Sun can reveal a man, aged in his 70s, was assaulted while walking into the Chabad on Cecil St about 10.40am on Saturday, November 18.

Attacked with a syringe, after the coward noticed Hebrew calendars in the old bloke’s car.

Nice, Palis. Real nice ideology you got there.

Call centre operators now 7/211. Six overs left.

Cautiously optimistic. However, never underestimate the Alintas’ ability to cock something up.

If only we had the strength of character to examine ourselves from the inside out…. It may be terrifying to begin with …

https://youtu.be/_zCQ5kHfcVk

That said ..when it comes to Asians I far prefer the VN ..far less neurotic..love a smoke and a drink and a good laugh …

@KD ..
yes I do have opinions … and might be up for some conversation ….go ahead and gore my ox you big old bugger…

… and Warner, in a change from dragging balls on, this time edges one down the throat of Kohli.

Shami is all over the shop, though.

Back in the 80s Medical students got a tap on the shoulder ….dont speak the Truth about AIDS if you value a career.

Oh, I came out as a cricket tragic years ago, Arks!

Heck… I’m pretty much just a sport tragic. Very fond of curling, which is not something you admit to except amongst friends.

And in the time it took to pen that purple prose, Smiff is gone and the Alinta’s (h/t KD) are in more trouble than the early settlers.