I look down on people who invest a lot of time and energy into status symbols that can just go away in a second.

This is opportunity costs from death, sex, and money.

I realize that I'm never going to be a gazillionaire.

A series all about class, which

we think about a lot. They came straight off the pages of a J-Crew catalog and need to talk about more.

So it has caused some friction in our relationship. I'm Anna Sale.

The first time Ernie Major wrote us an email was a few years ago when we did an episode about living alone.

I live in a single wide trailer in Boyle, California.

He emailed us again when we asked for stories about class.

I don't feel inferior to other people of higher class, he wrote.

In fact, sometimes I feel kind of sorry for them, trapped in their web of expectations.

I decided to go visit Ernie and Vallejo.

It's about a 30-minute drive from where I live now.

His trailer park is just off the highway.

He told me to look for the lot with a couple of motorcycles parked outside.

Hi, Ernie.

Ernie's dog, Mindy, greeted me as soon as I got out of the car.

Come on, dog.

Come on, dog.

We headed into his trailer, and Ernie showed me around inside.

A very brief tour of the high points. Yeah. If you step in there and look to your right, you will see the latest edition. The washer dryer? The washer dryer. Oh, how long have you had that? Oh, a couple months. It's life-changing, isn't it? Yes. Yeah. My mother-in-law said that a washer and a dryer are what separates middle-class people from four people.

Oh.

...