Originally Posted by Guest

It's because of our middle class attempt at living extravagantly. Our middle class lives far above the middle class lifestyle of other countries. Even our lower class incomes live well, and are compared to middle class in other countries. In many of the socialist countries, there is no real middle class. It is either one lower middle class or the wealthy class. No real medium class. That's because when you have socialism, you end up with only two classes, almost eliminating the middle class. They do raise the lifestyle of the lower ranks, but the upper class thrives in those countries.