Here in the land of the free and home of the brave, we are taught this idea of the American dream at a very young age: work, and you will be rewarded. That idea of a "reward" is generalized to having a decent job, getting paid a decent wage to raise a family, and retiring around the age of 60.
This group aptly became known as the middle class.
Over the last decade, pundits have lamented the loss of the middle class. People are no longer staying in the same 9-to-5 job forever, and salary distribution is all over the map. These pundits long for a day when we can get back to that generalized idea of a middle class. One that our fathers grew up on.
But what if I told you that middle class is never coming back? Moreover, what if I told you it is being replaced by a newer, better middle class?
A few weeks back, Nick Offerman (best known for his Ron Swanson character on Parks and Recreation) made a guest appearance on the home improvement podcast, Ace on the House. Not too far removed from his Parks and Rec character, Offerman is very much a "man's man" in the sense that he is very into woodworking. He has a full woodworking shop with employed staff and everything.
Speaking of that staff, Offerman remarked on a new breed of person that I would contend is ushering in this idea of a new middle class. His woodworking staff do not consist of uneducated folks. Rather, the staff is comprised of people with college educations who decided that the 9-to-5 life isn't for them. Offerman described these folks as being interested in simpler things like being able to pack a healthy lunch, working with their hands, and riding to-and-from work via bicycle. It's not a glamorous life, but it is something they make them happy.
Isn't happiness supposed to be at the heart of the middle class? So perhaps the better question isn't "How do we get back to before?" but rather "How can we live a life that makes us happy?" I don't think the 9-to-5 life is necessarily the answer any more. It might be for some people, but for others (like Offerman's staff), it's living this simple lifestyle.
Host of Ace on the House, Adam Carolla, also has a very similar staff. They are a group of men in their 30's and 40's, most of them unmarried. I don't know what they get paid, but it doesn't sound like they're making it big there. But they get to live a very interesting life where they meet celebrities daily and attend major events with Carolla on a regular basis.
Obviously, Offerman's staff and Carolla's staff do radically different things. At the heart of the matter, however, is this: these group of people are purposefully choosing to forego the traditional middle class life for a new "middle class" life. I think we're going to see more and more of this in the future.
To that end, I think the folks trying to bring back the "good ol' days" need to understand that maybe the former middle class life doesn't need to be brought back. In the days of iPhones, cheap flights, and food that costs next to nothing, happiness definitely looks different today than it did 100 years ago. Netflix costs $10 a month, and people are getting way more happiness out of it than an $80,000 sports car these days.
The middle class is not ending, it's just transforming. Transforming into something better.
This group aptly became known as the middle class.
Over the last decade, pundits have lamented the loss of the middle class. People are no longer staying in the same 9-to-5 job forever, and salary distribution is all over the map. These pundits long for a day when we can get back to that generalized idea of a middle class. One that our fathers grew up on.
But what if I told you that middle class is never coming back? Moreover, what if I told you it is being replaced by a newer, better middle class?
A few weeks back, Nick Offerman (best known for his Ron Swanson character on Parks and Recreation) made a guest appearance on the home improvement podcast, Ace on the House. Not too far removed from his Parks and Rec character, Offerman is very much a "man's man" in the sense that he is very into woodworking. He has a full woodworking shop with employed staff and everything.
Speaking of that staff, Offerman remarked on a new breed of person that I would contend is ushering in this idea of a new middle class. His woodworking staff do not consist of uneducated folks. Rather, the staff is comprised of people with college educations who decided that the 9-to-5 life isn't for them. Offerman described these folks as being interested in simpler things like being able to pack a healthy lunch, working with their hands, and riding to-and-from work via bicycle. It's not a glamorous life, but it is something they make them happy.
Isn't happiness supposed to be at the heart of the middle class? So perhaps the better question isn't "How do we get back to before?" but rather "How can we live a life that makes us happy?" I don't think the 9-to-5 life is necessarily the answer any more. It might be for some people, but for others (like Offerman's staff), it's living this simple lifestyle.
Host of Ace on the House, Adam Carolla, also has a very similar staff. They are a group of men in their 30's and 40's, most of them unmarried. I don't know what they get paid, but it doesn't sound like they're making it big there. But they get to live a very interesting life where they meet celebrities daily and attend major events with Carolla on a regular basis.
Obviously, Offerman's staff and Carolla's staff do radically different things. At the heart of the matter, however, is this: these group of people are purposefully choosing to forego the traditional middle class life for a new "middle class" life. I think we're going to see more and more of this in the future.
To that end, I think the folks trying to bring back the "good ol' days" need to understand that maybe the former middle class life doesn't need to be brought back. In the days of iPhones, cheap flights, and food that costs next to nothing, happiness definitely looks different today than it did 100 years ago. Netflix costs $10 a month, and people are getting way more happiness out of it than an $80,000 sports car these days.
The middle class is not ending, it's just transforming. Transforming into something better.
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