Lower Upper Class

When I was growing up in Southern California, my classmates and I would often discuss whether the area we lived should be classified as upper middle class or lower upper class. None of us were poor. We got cars, we had pools, we took vacations. Some of us wore designer clothes from boutique shops and had membership in the country clubs, drove Mercedes and BMWs. I came to decide that people whose houses were big enough to have one room called a "Library" were officially rich; a four car garage also would do the trick. But a house big enough for every kid to have their own room, plus a play room, plus a home office for mom and dad, that did not count really as rich in my book, just lower upper class.

These people I grew up with, their moms and dads were mostly doctors and lawyers, or owners of modest size businesses, a few restaurant outlets or specialty stores. None of them owned the hugest most important companies in America; that was what would make a person Middle Upper Class or Upper Upper Class.

I have to say that I think what sort of happened to the útrásvikings is that they were not aware of the existence of the lower upper class, or that the size of the Icelandic nation does not support the creation of these fine distinctions. Jon Asgeir and others like them seem to have thought that as soon as they had a modestly successful business, like a grocery store chain, they should instantly be considered rich, and have all the trappings of a rich person. Buy the planes. Have the apartment in Manhattan.

When all he really was entitled to was membership in a countryclub, the American reward for a successful business.

The moral of the story is that Iceland may have been a bit better off now if it had only had exclusive enough golf facilities.