Let's see: housing, full-time childcare, food, transportation, utilities, clothes and medicine for a family of four? 77K? Optimistically, that's 4600/month net. Yes, you can make ends meet without public program help... but it probably wouldn't be anything remotely recognizable as "middle class" living, and you would have a very tough time creating any significant savings.
On the other hand, I remember being middle class as a kid, and current notions of what that lifestyle is "supposed" to include are absolutely bloated, super-sized one might say. We were, by today's standards living quite poorly in many ways. But it never felt like it; my parents made interesting trade-offs in terms of quality of life versus quantity of life, and I long for such a balance in my life today. I do try for it, but I know I'm not even close.
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On the other hand, I remember being middle class as a kid, and current notions of what that lifestyle is "supposed" to include are absolutely bloated, super-sized one might say. We were, by today's standards living quite poorly in many ways. But it never felt like it; my parents made interesting trade-offs in terms of quality of life versus quantity of life, and I long for such a balance in my life today. I do try for it, but I know I'm not even close.