Sorry, Pal, You're Rich

"Rich" is a meaningless term when defined in terms of income. In order to be meaningful, rich (or poor) must be defined in terms of net worth. Making money does not make you rich unless you are able to keep it. Unfortunately, this parsing of the word "rich" requires thought and does not lend itself to sound-bites.

I just receieved a response to one of my previous posts that said the individual believed in helping others but did not want to be taxed by the government to achieve that end. I couldn't agree with you more. This is a government we elected however. We need to stop supporting the corruption. I recently saw a statistic on the news that reported the Senate spending on credit cards in the $14 Billion neighborhood. They were buying race car driving lessons, subscriptions to internet dating sites and other areas such as this in area of around 40% of that $14B. This is just one example. There are numerous others listed. Is it going to take a second revolution to correct this or is there a way to do it within our "democracy" I mean capitalist society?

ceanf9, that is funny when you have Ted Kennedy with his fat head sailing on his multi-million dollar yacht and horse face kerry with his own ski mountain. Why don't all of these REAL dems give it up. Why doesn't Obama give his book earning to the poor. It is all a lie. Those who have it, don't want to give it and those who don't have think they deserve it.

revolution30

You misspelled college.

I probably make a lot less than you do too.

A doctor have two offices and 10 employees. One office opens 3 days a week and net the doctor $250,000 and the other office open 2 days and net him $100,000. He provide full benefits to his employees, health insurance, 401K and paid vacation. The Obama tax plan will make it hard for the 2nd office to remain open since it will not make it worth it for the doctor. He will close the 2nd office and lay off 3 employees, and the other 7 employees will lose of the benefits since it is no longer full-time. Becareful Obama, you tax plan may cause a lot people to lose their job.
mike from kansas city

By looking at the below comments, Mr Gross you obviously do not know what you are talking about and stop the media sponsored political efforts to make us all feel bad and destroy our economy so you can elect your liberal president.

Just because everyone in the country is poor doesn't mean someone who makes $250/K a year is "rich". You have to recognize that no one really makes what they make- government takes off a huge slice to waste for you. After taxes you have expenses and these days, nothing is cheap- particularly housing and cars. Sure, you can live for next to nothing in the ghetto and you can buy a car for $100, but there is a cost to that too (safety, schools, etc.). I'm sure someone will say the ghetto's are really fine and their violence is overstated- true, but that doesn't really entice anyone to move in. In fact, most try to move out. What's particularly troubling is nothing is built to last. Cars run their useful life in 5 years, appliances 10 at best. We're constantly replacing what we have if we hope to get any kind of decent performance from our goods.

That said, things simply cost more than they used to (particularly if they loose value so quickly) and the dollar isn't what it once was- here or abroad. Kind of like Germany when they went through their pre-war hyperinflation period (e.g. $2000 loaves of bread in 1936). We don't have hyperinflation but we really don't get much for the dollar like we used to. Then again, perhaps the country was always poor (aside from a lucky few)- we just didn't have to read about it all the time.

Rich-wealthy is a relative term. What???s considered rich to me or the next person will most always certainly be different. I will say that I don???t think I???m rich, though when I tell you about my earnings and expenditures some may think I am???again, being rich or thought of being rich is a relative term. I would starve and die if I made 250k a year, why? Well I???ll tell you why I make a $400k base and receive a $2.5 million dollar bonus annually on average. So before tax $2.9 million. After tax I see roughly $1.5 million, I???m taxed 40% on my base and nearly 50% from my bonus, I also cash options but that is every two years and I roll it into my retirement fund. I do have tax shelter but since making a 7 figure salary I???ve yet to ever not send in more come April 15th.
There???s an old adage ???if you make more you spend more??? and this is especially true for the ???Nouveau riche???. I would be considered ???Nouveau riche??? because I???m first generation to make this amount of money within my family. I wear my success on my sleeve because I???m proud, not to show off I can assure you. With making the salary I make comes a certain expectation both in business and society. I can???t drive a junk to work, it???s just not professional, all the executives at the company I work for drive $150,000-200,000 cars, that???s just the way it is. When you???re an executive, there???s a lot of perception that goes along with it, and you have to play the game or prepare to get flushed out.
My montly expenses ??? 25k mortgage, 6k property tax, 5k children private school, 10k child support, 25k in other expenses, between 60-80k per month. I also had 280k in college education to pay for (on my own) 200k for Harvard undergrad, 80 for standford graduate school. I work 10 to 12 hours a day, travel 2-3 days on average every week (overseas). I sometimes feel like a corporate puppet. On the flip side I don???t have to think about how much things cost, however I do often worry how long I???ll be able to keep up this pace (I???m 45) I worry that the lifestyle I???m living and providing for my family will not sustain into my retirement???(I put away 15% of my pay) I wouldn???t complain about paying more because I make more, though I am taxed 40-50%. I donate regularly to all different charities. I guess the moral to what I???m saying in my story is rich is all relative. If someone told me they make $250k a year I???d be impressed, impressed for them. But to think about that money for me personally makes me cringe.

Rich-wealthy is a relative term. What???s considered rich to me or the next person will most always certainly be different. I will say that I don???t think I???m rich, though when I tell you about my earnings and expenditures some may think I am???again, being rich or thought of being rich is a relative term. I would starve and die if I made 250k a year, why? Well I???ll tell you why I make a $400k base and receive a $2.5 million dollar bonus annually on average. So before tax $2.9 million. After tax I see roughly $1.5 million, I???m taxed 40% on my base and nearly 50% from my bonus, I also cash options but that is every two years and I roll it into my retirement fund. I do have tax shelter but since making a 7 figure salary I???ve yet to ever not send in more come April 15th.
There???s an old adage ???if you make more you spend more??? and this is especially true for the ???Nouveau riche???. I would be considered ???Nouveau riche??? because I???m first generation to make this amount of money within my family. I wear my success on my sleeve because I???m proud, not to show off I can assure you. With making the salary I make comes a certain expectation both in business and society. I can???t drive a junk to work, it???s just not professional, all the executives at the company I work for drive $150,000-200,000 cars, that???s just the way it is. When you???re an executive, there???s a lot of perception that goes along with it, and you have to play the game or prepare to get flushed out.
My montly expenses ??? 25k mortgage, 6k property tax, 5k children private school, 10k child support, 25k in other expenses, between 60-80k per month. I also had 280k in college education to pay for (on my own) 200k for Harvard undergrad, 80 for standford graduate school. I work 10 to 12 hours a day, travel 2-3 days on average every week (overseas). I sometimes feel like a corporate puppet. On the flip side I don???t have to think about how much things cost, however I do often worry how long I???ll be able to keep up this pace (I???m 45) I worry that the lifestyle I???m living and providing for my family will not sustain into my retirement???(I put away 15% of my pay) I wouldn???t complain about paying more because I make more, though I am taxed 40-50%. I donate regularly to all different charities. I guess the moral to what I???m saying in my story is rich is all relative. If someone told me they make $250k a year I???d be impressed, impressed for them. But to think about that money for me personally makes me cringe.

Anyone making $250,000.00 a year is most likely highly vunerable right now.....with corporate losses and government evolution......... paychecks may end.......maybe they can get a job as a lobbyist.

First, making $250K is a lot of money. Living within your means would help those making that much and struggling. Americans feel they are entitled to everything they want, not just what they need. If the people who made less than $50K/year would not go to work tomorrow, the country would go to a screeching halt. But let's get to the real issue. The flat tax idea is really silly, especially if you don't have and deductions for the working middle class. Everyone buys food and clothing. Now let's say two people pay $200/week for food and clothing before the flat tax. One makes $25K/year and the other makes $250K. They each pay a 25% flat tax on the purchase equally $50. Now the 25K/yr guy takes home $481/week and is left with $231 for the rest of the week. That 25% tax or $50 equals 10.4% of his pay. While the $250K wage earner makes $4810/week and that tax equates out to 1.04% of his wage. Who is better off in the scenario? The rich. Of course they want a flat tax because it benefits them even more than it does now. Now maybe all Obama does is repeal Bush's latest tax cut on the upper income earners. It really isn't a tax hike, it is a reset of what you were paying. That will help, but what Congress should do is tax dividends and capital gains at income tax rates instead of 15%. That will allow the rich to pay their fair share and support the programs without really affecting that many people.

maybe those earning $250,000 a year yet complaining how they are middle class should sell their million dollar mcmansion, their $80,000 cars and LIVE WITHIN THEIR MEANS! $250,000 a year and middle class my ass!