Looking for the herd!

I have been on this interesting and very bewildering hunt for some time now.  It has been so elusive in fact that at times I feel like the old time African explorer or Indiana Jones possibly.  What I do not understand is how the focus of my search can be so incredibly elusive as it has been.  To hear it from others it must be a gigantic herd… possibly covering at least 3 whole states.  How can I possibly be missing this enormous herd of animal.  I don’t know.  Maybe I am using the wrong map…or maybe my spyglass is dirty.  Hmmph!  Well, first let me tell you of my hunt.  I am hunting for that elusive beast… the well off common American.  According to the Republicans and Democrats… as well as virtually all of Corporate America, they are everywhere!  These people who have money to burn and work in a nice clean office in their own cubical.  They earn more than $100,000 per year.  They are on vacation two or three times a years, traveling all over the world.  You would think that with the majority of Americans living like this I would be capable of finding this massive herd.  Then again, with all of us doing so well you would think, “how could there possibly be any economic problems in our society? 

Where did I get my information?  Well, that easy.  Just watch your TV from time to time.  Listen to your cable newscasts and your politicians out there.  Watch a few commercials.  Also, just look at your utility and entertainment bills.  A mediocre apartment today = $500 to $1000 per month.  Car payment = $300 to $500 per month plus insurance of $100 to $300 per month.  Gas/electric avg. $250 per month.  Cable with broadband = $150 to $200 per month.  Water (hears the cheap one) = $30 per month.  And here we are at on the low side $1330 per month, and on the high side $2280 per month.  And this is for a single person, without looking at food, cloths, gas, and many other incidental expenses.

So, what do we do?  What can we do without?  Do we stop driving?  Do we shut off the cable/internet?  Do we live out of our car?  I just do not understand where this fantasy of the “Well off American” comes from.  The majority of us have not lived in such a state in 30 years.  And, I cannot grasp where they get the idea that we all earn a six didget income and live in a half-million dollar home and work in a fancy office.  I just suppose that I am a lousy explorer.  But for now at least, I will keep trudging through the jungles in search of this massive herd.  Let me know if you all come across it will you?