> sit on your Walmart couch, in your Walmart clothes, eating your Walmart food and watching your Walmart TV.
That's basically how I exist now (excluding the "Walmart" prefix).
I sit, I eat, I play video games, I'm somewhat dressed. What do you imagine people with a "nice looking house with their nice looking family" do on the weekends? The middle class doesn't have some secret club we all attend.
> What do you imagine people with a "nice looking house with their nice looking family" do on the weekends?
In an era of both decreased economic mobility (education and housing cost increases, lower high-income tax rates, lower effective taxes on generational wealth transfer) and increased commercial interest in and monetization of attention (adtech, gaming, peak content)...
Probably teaching their children how to be titans of industry and avoiding screens? (Or at least middle management)
Funny thing about yachting is it's not even cost-prohibitive for the middle-class anymore. Not since fiberglass became ubiquitous in the 70s. It's comparable to owning an RV/camper van - something I would not associate with the upper bourgeoisie.
A boat costs about as much as a nice car, except boats are purely recreational. I can justify the cost of a $10k car because it'd be taking me to work every day, but $10k + upkeep for fun is ridiculous. Additionally, you need enough space to store the boat, which already puts you into bourgeoisie territory.
Moxie (of Signal fame) described the transformation in accessibility made by the introduction of plastic boats better than I could ever hope to in his documentary Hold Fast 2007:
Not to be a downer, 'cause I think the movie is great but, how much was he worth then (and how much now?). Was there a financial safety net tied into Moxie's life then? Was he just playing crust punk tourist?
That's basically how I exist now (excluding the "Walmart" prefix).
I sit, I eat, I play video games, I'm somewhat dressed. What do you imagine people with a "nice looking house with their nice looking family" do on the weekends? The middle class doesn't have some secret club we all attend.