There is no middle class...1% of the world's population owns 80% of the world's wealth. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day and nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
Source: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
 
Another good read with emperical backed research http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Nereus

Bowenac
Did you pay for college on your own? I sure didn't have that luxury of getting school paid and am dealing with it now and still have not landed a job... A degree means nothing in this economy... everyone wants 5-7 years exp.

Even that doesn't help all that much. I had years of experience, but no degree so I couldn't get a job, so I put myself through college and I now have 2 degrees with honors. Once I finished study, it took me six months to find a job which is under-paying me, and I am about to be laid off after about 18 months with them - purely based on seniority, nothing to do with ability. It doesn't matter what you know, it's WHO you know. For all the people I know who have 'made it', not a single one of them have done it on their own. Not one. In every case, it's either been a family business, family money has set them up in business, or their family knows someone who knows someone.. you know what I mean. The rich get richer....

Yeah sounds like I have a chip on my shoulder, and maybe I do, after working my guts out year after year, doing all the 'right' things, not buying a house when I can't afford it etc etc, and I just get nowhere, whereas irresponsible idiots get nice houses they cant afford and have the banks forgive half their loan and drop the interest rates for them not paying their loan. 

The only thing I have learned is that it pays to be irresponsible and/or cheat, and the ones who pay the most for it are those who work honestly and make responsible decisions.

 
Just to answer both questions posed:
Yes, my school was paid for by my parents, but I did get very good scholarships to other very good schools that would have paid for themselves, so in terms of schooling it's not much to say that my parents paid for it because I could have done so myself as well.
 
In this economy, I think it really depends on what degree you get. Unlike many people on these forums, I am actually not a computer geek by trade, so I can't actually speak much for the Technology/IT/CS/Programming industries. My degrees out of school were mathematics (specializing in economics) and economics, and I had a couple offers out of college to choose from. I know it definitely works differently in other fields, but in this line of work, it basically all comes down to those interviews and how you present yourself at them.
 
And to Nereus:
I have almost 0 family connections here in the states. My job search and interview process were not through any connections I have. I definitely saw a lot of people get a leg up because of connections, and a lot of people who shouldn't get offers got offers because of who they know, but it's by no means a deal-breaker.
 
If any of the younger folk on these forums wants to chat about interviewing for jobs in my line of work, and how to (somewhat) effectively look for jobs in college, feel free to send me a PM.

 Funny, I was going to say check the SR-2 forum also

I don't think 100K a year combined income qualifies as rich.  I would say well off, but everything is geographically dependent.  100K a year will get you an apartment in Manhatten,  but a few thousand square foot house somewhere else.
 
Being from an area that has arguably the highest cost of living in the country, 100K will get you to live comfortably.  Also you have to look at is this 1 income, or 100K is combined income.  You can make over 100K as a government employee. 
 
We have to come up with a threshold for sake of arguement to what we all think is "rich".  I personally think $250K combined income is a good place to start.  Warren Buffet has the right idea.  All the money any small country could ever need, and still lives in the house he bought in 1958 for $31,500.

babyballa

I think the richer people on the forums push 100k a year. Which is reasonable. if you drop like 12k on a new system. You still havee 88k to spend on bills, family needs, house and so on. And to be honest. People won't tell you there income or even state that rich. Just for safety sakes. You don't want someone to begged on the forums for 'parts' or have your car dented or keyed. 

 
I found this earlier comment interesting.  You would be amazed at how wrong this tends to be, no offense to babyballa.  When I first got out of college I used to think how great it would be if I only earned $30K a year, I would have so much money.  Got there and then I thought what if I earned $40K, then $50K, and so on, you know it is never enough.  People in general have a tendency to scale their expenses to their income, so it never feels like enough.  You would be amazed at the number or people with $100K plus incomes struggle paycheck to paycheck.   I work in banking and see it every day, doctors with more credit card debt than most of us make in a year.  Someone making 100K loses about 40% after all federal, state, social security taxes, health insurance, and other typical payroll deductions.  So now we are down to $60K.  That person may normally own a $200K modest home, and that is about $1,700 with escrow, so another $20,000 gone.  Now we have $40K.  At $100K probably married with kids so two cars needed, $400 apiece on payments, another $10K gone, so now at $30K.   Kid in daycare $500/mo, utilities of $400/mo, cable $100/mo, credit card pmt $150/mo, food $600/mo, gas for both cars $200/mo, there goes another $23K.  Now at $7K left or $580/month.  That $580 is what you have to go to dinner, plan vacations, buy computers, birthday presents for kids, new furniture, TV's, etc.  I bet that person does not feel rich.  You can afford more comforts of life, but you certainly don't feel rich. 

If there are any rich people, I want them to loan me $5,000.00 N-O-W! with 0.0% interest