These professions are a core of the middle class. Maybe some of the most successful could be called upper-middle class, if they also had a large inheritance?
But a regular software dev or a GP is the perfect representation of a middle class - having enough money for comfortable life, travel, owning a house, new car, leisure activities and having money for investments.
If one can’t afford these (all at the same time) - it is not middle class. Middle class is not a “median - average salary class”, by a long shot.
> For any expats, I was curious what your pathway was to getting overseas?
So... any expats? Or Americans moving overseas? Or people from the USA moving to EU countries? These will be wildly different scenarios.
For me it was signing a work contract in Switzerland and moving there from an EU country. The path to get that job was by finishing a good uni and having some work experience already while studying. Not sure this helps you much...
At these electricity prices bothering with wood might not be worth it. If you get some, that’s nice, but otherwise just insulate the house well and you’re golden.
At 4 cents per 1kWh heating will not be an issue, even with regular resistive heater. It’s almost free electricity.
You could run a 1.5 kW heater 24/7 for roughly 40 USD a month. Just make sure the space is well insulated and not too large - but we’re talking about basic living, so that should be easy.
Ok, let's assume you do. Let's tax all fuels 300% in the US.
Now all manufacturing stops as your production costs are all over the roof. Everything is imported from countries that do not have these taxes.
Right, but now you're talking about adding the tax to the whole economy, not just car fuel?
That's close to impossible to implement. You'd need to track production and usage of everything in an extreme detail. Plus tracking all purchases (items + services) to a given person. So complete state surveillance of citizens. Globally.
The question is... how many farmers / ranchers need these pickups? There seems to be like an absolutely crazy competition for vehicles for a very narrow group of people.
But a regular software dev or a GP is the perfect representation of a middle class - having enough money for comfortable life, travel, owning a house, new car, leisure activities and having money for investments.
If one can’t afford these (all at the same time) - it is not middle class. Middle class is not a “median - average salary class”, by a long shot.