> The "middle class" software engineering DINK couple in the bay area making $250,000 is absolutely in the upper class despite the fact that they still have to work every day.
While, to me, they are, as people working at wage labor, either working class or, if they have sufficient capital assets that they could reasonably subsist primarily or entirely on capital income for a non-trivial period of time if they chose to use it that way rather than saving it for the future -- that is, if labor is a practical (e.g., not economically coerced) choice rather than a necessity -- middle class. (If their capital is such that they can live comfortably on the proceeds while continuing to accumulate capital, then they are upper class -- whether or not they choose to work -- but I don't think many Bay Area DINK couples making $250K meet that standard.)
To me, economic class is about practical economic choices.
While, to me, they are, as people working at wage labor, either working class or, if they have sufficient capital assets that they could reasonably subsist primarily or entirely on capital income for a non-trivial period of time if they chose to use it that way rather than saving it for the future -- that is, if labor is a practical (e.g., not economically coerced) choice rather than a necessity -- middle class. (If their capital is such that they can live comfortably on the proceeds while continuing to accumulate capital, then they are upper class -- whether or not they choose to work -- but I don't think many Bay Area DINK couples making $250K meet that standard.)
To me, economic class is about practical economic choices.