Bill Gates Bought His Daughter A $16 Million Horse Farm As A Graduation Gift — But Ex-Wife Melinda Says The Kids Were Raised Very 'Middle Class'

That's right, they're comparing to other billionaires and looking at themselves being so humble that they must be middle class. It's unfathomable to them to know what it's really like.

Ikr? Rich and power but still a weird horse girl

Is there a real definition of middle class? I've seen income percentile based ones, but that's just bs, because depending on how poor or rich and equal or unequal a society is as well as cost of living, being in the 50th percentile might mean you're dry pasta every day (because it's cheaper than instant noodles, per kilogram), or it might mean you're very comfortable.

What follows is entirely subjective, and is my perception of middle class is, in the US versus my own country, Estonia)

To me, middle class means you can live a comfortable lifestyle, and once you've been earning a decent income for a while, you can lose your job and keep living mostly the same lifestyle for several months without going bankrupt. But in reality, that may be only people in the top 20% (excluding the 0.1% ultra wealthy that are most definitely NOT middle class).

Middle class is the classic 80s and 90s American movie/TV show family. Either the sole provider, or both parents if both are employed, lose their jobs? Well, it'll be a tight few months, but we'll make it.

Home is not middle class though. This article puts it into perspective. I love this bit: "So what did Kevin’s parents do for a living? It’s likely the mom was a fashion designer considering the amount of mannequins in the home. As for the dad, he was likely a regular businessman." What the hell is a "regular businessman" and how do I become one and make 300k+ 2022 dollars solo or 600k+ total household?

Now you could say "this is what the middle class was in the 80s and 90s, it's not like that anymore", to which I'd say, no, it's not that the middle class has changed, it's that the middle class is shrinking hard, and most Americans are actually working class now.

Anyway, this is my thoughts about a country I don't live in and thus heavily skewed based on media. In my own country, the middle class has only started forming over the last decade or 2. We gained independence from the soviet union in 1992 and at first the class system was "hustlers and organized crime vs normal people (poor)". Nearly all the wealthy businessmen of the 00s either had organized crime ties in the 90s, or deceived people out of their capital vouchers (yes, that was a thing during the privatization of the country). After all, what good is a voucher when you need food money NOW?

A couple of decades later, to me, growing up middle class here means you're not worried about where the down payment for your first home is coming from after you've held a job for a few years. Growing up upper middle class is never having to rent in your life, your parents help make sure of that. Upper class is if your parents didn't just buy you a home with a loan or fund your down payment, they bought it outright for cash. Now yes, it's possible that your parents are loaded and don't help you at all because "damn kids need to learn how to make it on their own", but most parents do realize that getting started in life is ridiculously hard, so if it's within their means, they tend want to help their kids get their foot in the home ownership door one way or another. Also noteworthy is that unlike the US, buying an apartment/condo here is a much better deal generally, so most people's first home is an apartment/condo. I mean we get shafted less when renting too, but most people still want to own (even if with a loan), because otherwise you're just paying someone else's mortgage, or funding their holidays.

All in all, middle class is a vibe based definition more than a numbers based one if you ask me.

Millionaires are the middle class now.

Well put yourself in their shoes. They ARE the middle class when they are surrounded by only the top 1%.

We are not existant/irrelevant others. That will stay the same as long as their heads remain attached.

What makes you think that ? The missing bad headlines in the newspapers ?

You don't have to choose a favourite when none should exist

Tbf, it is "merely" a private prop plane, not a jet (which would be significantly more expensive still). But yeah, not exactly middle class material…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord%E2%80%93bondsman_dialectic?wprov=sfti1

...and not living behind gated walls. My partner works construction in some truly outrageous "communities " and the people in our city don't even know the lavishness of the lives of those who live there.

presuming you are American, look at dental clinics and if you are near a city, dental universities.

and in the narrow band where you neither need to work nor have the wealth to rule is the middle class.

Hmmph. The most surprising part is that there are ten tubs for 24 bathrooms. You'd think those sort of people would just have combined the ten tubs into three giant tubs in 8 giant bathrooms so they could do their kinky stuff. Wasn't bill a multiple time guest of epstein?

I wish that had not been foreshadowing...

But it's also not: I can do whatever I want and buy whatever I want and never have to think about money again.

middle class to her is being a poor millionaire's budget.

I thought this was a Philomena Cunk meme at first

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/

Diminished sure, but still the largest group.

Mattel brand. Less cost on maintenance also.

She wasn’t on the board of directors of IBM, she was on another board which the CEO of IBM was also on.

It’s a distinction without a difference, but still.

i like the original meaning because it made it a lot easier to point at the bourgeois and their politics (which is currently ruining my country and the proletariat is more than willing to lean even harder into their destructive mandates).

in my country/culture, middle class is (or at least was) anyone who have earned a professional title of high esteem. i.e. a doctor. and socially they were highly respected, regardless of actual wealth status. wealthy people used to be targets of ridicule (because they tried to flaunt their wealth in public. i still remember, 20 years ago, how one of our wealthiest individuals were literally crying on TV how no one respected her for wealth and she much preferred american culture. incidentally and totally unrelated; she launched a bunch of reality tv shows about worshipping wealth after that).

unfortunately american social media and said reality TV shows have radically changed how youth and the younger generation identify "status". i always hear about how they will be rich one day and buy a super mansion. but if you ask what the purpose of that is; they couldn't explain it - it's just what they're told to desire.

so from my perspective, the next 2-3 generations are on a path to ruin in the name of capital ownership for the few.

The corporation knows we hate billionaires. They rang the dinner bell and gave us our slop. Now we need to lap it up and generate ad revenue for the business. We need to tell the world: ragebait articles contribute to society, they generate value, it brings in the visitors.