According to Obama Who is Considered Rich?

[KMAN]

And who makes that decision?

Anyone know?

 

[Silence]

Is this a serious question?

I think he's said people making over 250K a year, hasn't he?

and I guess it's a matter of opinion.

Personally I think anyone who makes more than 100K a year is wealthy.

 

[Andrew2382]

Is this a serious question?

I think he's said people making over 250K a year, hasn't he?

and I guess it's a matter of opinion.

Personally I think anyone who makes more than 100K a year is wealthy.

No way Silence,

It may be relative to where you live but in no way someone who makes 100k wealthy.

Live in Miami, or even worse NYC and see how far 100k does for you if you ahvea family to support

 

[Turboswede]

And who makes that decision?

Anyone know?

Judging from the Obama rhetoric about “having the rich pay their fair share” and the changes to the tax code that are being proposed, it looks like the “Rich” start at about $250K but that’s marginal.

The group Obama’s potential tax revisions will hit the hardest, thus what could be considered the “Most Rich”, are individuals who receive the majority of their income through passive sources, pay the Alternate Minimum Tax and have estates in excess of $7 million. That boils down to the top 0.3% of Americans.

 

[Turboswede]

No way Silence,

It may be relative to where you live but in no way someone who makes 100k wealthy.

Live in Miami, or even worse NYC and see how far 100k does for you if you ahvea family to support

$100,000 for a family is nicely middle class here in Seattle. Personally I don’t consider anyone “Rich” unless the majority of their income does not appear on a W-2. To me it’s a class distinction based on “Workers & Owners” If you are a doctor making $250,000 per year, even if you “own” your practice, I would put you in the upper middle class bracket.

A “high net worth individual” would also probably fit in the category of “Rich” and according to the Big 4 accounting firms, that kicks in at $40M in net assets or $15M in gross income.

 

[Skeptik]

The rich guy is the guy behind the tree:

Don't tax you, and don't tax me,
Tax the guy behind the tree!

Since only a few people really consider themselves "rich", taxing the rich is a popular idea among politicians running for office. Only a very few will vote against a candidate using the "tax the rich" mantra, so only a few votes will be lost.

Once in office, the pol has to confront some unpleasant realities, such as that ten trillion dollar deficit, along with the most severe recession in recent memory.

And the fact that the truly wealthy have tax shelters available to them.

In the case of the president, of course, another unpleasant reality is the fact that he can't just come up with a new tax plan and have it implemented as is. It has to be debated and voted on in the Congress.

Probably the only way to actually bring our fiscal house in order is to simultaneously grow the economy, cut back on government spending, and raise taxes on someone. Whether the current government will be able to do so remains to be seen.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Rich in Obamaland

anyone with a job and enough money in their wallet to buy lunch

 

[Angel Heart]

No way Silence,

It may be relative to where you live but in no way someone who makes 100k wealthy.

Live in Miami, or even worse NYC and see how far 100k does for you if you ahvea family to support

It really does depend on where you live. 100k here is just braking even on cost of living. But if I move to the Midwest it's living high on the hog.

 

[editec]

Here's a thought.

How about defining the truly rich familes as those which enjoy an income 2.5 standard deviations above the median family income? (or course we have to define income as income from ALL sources, not just labor incomes)

And while we're at it we could define the truly poor as those 2.5 standard deviations below that national median family income.

Bell curve works damned well for everything else, why not incomes?

I have no idea what the standard deviation of incomes is in this nation, though so I cannot give you that data.

FYI, while the median household income in the USA is supposed to be around $51,000 or so, the median income for a worker in the USA is about $21,000.

Now those two numbers seems very odd to me, but I can only report what I read.

 

[Zoomie1980]

$100,000 for a family is nicely middle class here in Seattle. Personally I don’t consider anyone “Rich” unless the majority of their income does not appear on a W-2. To me it’s a class distinction based on “Workers & Owners” If you are a doctor making $250,000 per year, even if you “own” your practice, I would put you in the upper middle class bracket.

A “high net worth individual” would also probably fit in the category of “Rich” and according to the Big 4 accounting firms, that kicks in at $40M in net assets or $15M in gross income.

That's the most accurate measure of "wealth". You "wealthy" if you do not have to work a regular job to maintain your standard of living, regardless of what that standard may be. If you happy living in a 2 Bedroom, 1000sq ft apartment at $750/mo and driving a 10 year old car, and you can do that without ever having to work, then you are "wealthy".

Basically, yes, the majority of your income does NOT come from a W-2 AND you can maintain your lifestyle on that non W-2 income....

 

[Zoomie1980]

Here's a thought.

How about defining the truly rich familes as those which enjoy an income 2.5 standard deviations above the median family income? (or course we have to define income as income from ALL sources, not just labor incomes)

And while we're at it we could define the truly poor as those 2.5 standard deviations below that national median family income.

Bell curve works damned well for everything else, why not incomes?

I have no idea what the standard deviation of incomes is in this nation, though so I cannot give you that data.

FYI, while the median household income in the USA is supposed to be around $51,000 or so, the median income for a worker in the USA is about $21,000.

Now those two numbers seems very odd to me, but I can only report what I read.

A "worker" at what? $21,000 is $10/hr. That's basically low to no-skill manual labor.... There's not a single, non-intern person in my office that makes as little as $51,000, even the young folks..... Not sure what people do for a living on your street but they must be some pretty un-educated, unskilled folks, or a lot of young kids just starting out.

 

[Skeptik]

FYI, while the median household income in the USA is supposed to be around $51,000 or so, the median income for a worker in the USA is about $21,000.

Now those two numbers seems very odd to me, but I can only report what I read.

The reason for the apparent contradiction of those two figures is that household income includes more than just wages. The wealthier families, in fact, get most of their income from investment rather than wages.

Not only that, but many households have more than one income from jobs. If the husband and wife both earn that 21 grand, then the household income is $42 thousand.

Nevertheless, that $21,000 figure seems a bit low to me. Are you sure?

 

[Vel]

And who makes that decision?

Anyone know?

I'd say it depends on what group Obama is talking to at the time. I've heard his campaign reps say any where from 120,000 to 250,000.

I'd guess the decision will be made by the amount of money needed to pay for Obama's campaign promises.

 

[KMAN]

Is this a serious question?

I think he's said people making over 250K a year, hasn't he?

and I guess it's a matter of opinion.

Personally I think anyone who makes more than 100K a year is wealthy.

Yes, this is a serious question... and as you can see nobody seems to know who "wealthy" is in Obama's view but there sure is a bunch of people wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy...

$200,000?
What Obama means by tax the wealthy - Jun. 27, 2008

$150,000?
Political Radar: McCain Jumps on Another Biden Interview for Hit on Taxes

$120,000?
Media Matters - Wash. Times distorted Richardson's, Obama's remarks on tax policy

What's next?

 

[GigiBowman]

No way Silence,

It may be relative to where you live but in no way someone who makes 100k wealthy.

Live in Miami, or even worse NYC and see how far 100k does for you if you ahvea family to support

The average taxes on a house on Long Island are $10,000.

A half gallon of Organic milk was $4.59 at the supermarket yesterday and my gas is still $2.79 where everyone else is saying it's under $2.00 now.

To get to NYC from Long Island it's approximately $14.00 each way.

It cost $7.50 for a Margaritta in a bar.

Cigarettes cost $7.59 a pack

believe me when I tell you that $100,000 per year in New York gets you nowhere fast.

 

[Turboswede]

The average taxes on a house on Long Island are $10,000.

A half gallon of Organic milk was $4.59 at the supermarket yesterday and my gas is still $2.79 where everyone else is saying it's under $2.00 now.

To get to NYC from Long Island it's approximately $14.00 each way.

It cost $7.50 for a Margaritta in a bar.

Cigarettes cost $7.59 a pack

believe me when I tell you that $100,000 per year in New York gets you nowhere fast.

OMG…I didn’t realize that you live in New York GiGi, that would drive just about anyone to become a Libertarian.

I moved from Seattle to New York and lived there for 3 years and it’s just amazing how much the City/Township/County/State taxes you there. You should move out here and bask in our 8.7% sales tax, NO income tax, 1.97 per gallon gas and $40 per carton smokes.

And we are an original “Shall Issue” state when it comes to concealed weapons too.

 

[GigiBowman]

As soon as all our kids are done with school I am outta here!