Agreed, tatsuke95's comment is ridiculously out of proportion. My friends are all middle class, with two exceptions who are upper middle class -- myself & my husband, and another married couple who run a software business like we do. They have an expensive house and a very nice car, but they live well within their means and save a lot of money (and they worked their asses off to earn that money). They certainly don't have a vacation home. My husband and I just bought a house which cost just less than our biz's gross receipts last year, but we got a 30-year mortgage and we don't even own a car. We do travel fairly often and for longer periods (up to a month) but it's almost always a tax write-off, organized around conferences.
And, that other couple aside, we're by far the most extravagant people in our friend group (designers, developers, creative class all). Only a couple of our middle class friends own anything, much less expect to own two houses and cars.
The specter of wide swathes of middle class people who "expect" two houses and cars and European vacations is simply a strawman argument, conjured up to "prove" that these people "deserve what they get."
>"The specter of wide swathes of middle class people who "expect" two houses"
In 2006, 40 percent of home sales were for "second homes", with the typical buyer having a household income of $80,000.
>"tatsuke95's comment is ridiculously out of proportion"
I'm glad you think it's out of proportion, based on your personal anecdotes about your friends (except for two, but you've defined them as upper middle class, so they don't count!).
But the "wide swathes" of indebtedness, bankruptcies, defaults and deleveraging in the US says otherwise. Where have you been for the past five years? Those are facts. It occurs when people "live beyond their means", which is nearly synonymous with having too high expectations: you want more than you earn. Do you think it's the rich people living beyond their means? Is it the poor people buying cars and houses they can't afford? No, it's the middle class.
And, that other couple aside, we're by far the most extravagant people in our friend group (designers, developers, creative class all). Only a couple of our middle class friends own anything, much less expect to own two houses and cars.
The specter of wide swathes of middle class people who "expect" two houses and cars and European vacations is simply a strawman argument, conjured up to "prove" that these people "deserve what they get."