I think the culture in America is to overstate the possibility of upward mobility. The streets are not paved with gold and has anyone tried “pulling themselves up from their bootstraps”? The physical impossibility of such an act should be a clue to how difficult it is to move within the system (that in my opinion is sabotaged by government subsidies).

What I really see in my life is the rich getting richer and the poor/middle class working hard, but also reasoning as to why they wouldn’t want to be part of the upper class. Yes, some millionaires work overtime and barely see their families – but the point is no one invited the middle class to join the VIP club of wealthy elites. It’s just not in the American psyche to admit that no matter how hard you work your entire life, you could still never get out of the middle class.

And I have to disagree with the statement: “Most millionaires and such have poured excessive overtime into their businesses and work.” Of course this is anecdotal, but the first 10 millionaires I know don’t work overtime because they don’t have jobs. They inherited their money and wisely invested it. From my personal experience, I have yet to see a rags to riches story unfold, yet have seen plenty of the rich get richer. But if you do have a rags to riches story, I am all ears. Feel free to post your story on my blog.

I want to cook good food, play computer games, and play with my dogs. Being wealthy would allow me to do these things without the distraction of work (oh that I could get a non-stressful job that involved 2 of the 3:)), but I can still accomplish them as a member of the middle class.

The woman who dreams of going and working with boats isn’t really going to be happy if she lets this mindset trap her in her upper-management “success”. With debts to pay, you need the paycheck to keep coming in and can’t really take the risk.