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Thursday, March 13, 2008 I was looking at some family income distribution numbers yesterday and was a bit surprised by how the distribution looked. To enter the Top 20 percent, you need to be making $88,000 a year. To enter the Top 5 percent, you need to make $157,000 a year. I've known a lot of families making around $150,000, and none of them would have described themselves as much beyond upper middle class, or "doing pretty well." And though I'd call Top 5 percent rich, in income terms, I probably would have said $250,000.I'm trying to be pleased about this, but it's really hard. As a supporter of low taxes, I suppose I'm happy that given Americans' bizarre notions about what it means to be wealthy, "everyone below the 95th percentile is untouchable." And I am gratified to see yet more proof of Megan's excellent post last month that whatever liberals claim, no one really thinks their taxes should be raised. So, all in all, I should be happy. Viva la Reagan Revolution and all that. But then there's the comments section. It's just soooo hard to be a young professional in Manhattan and live in a walk-up apartment and only get to go out occasionally to nice restaurants while people in Grand Rapids, MI are living off the fat of the land in huge McMansions and have three SUVs. Even the cereal is more expensive in NYC! Plus, the loans from Harvard Law School are killing me. People are aware they can move, right? There's this company called U-Haul and you can lug all your sad IKEA furniture in one of their trucks and head out West to start anew. Americans have been doing it for centuries. But wait, your cool job in publishing/journalism is only here on the East Coast? And you really like all those nice restaurants? And then there's the museums, the live music and the great social scene...All good points, I agree. Let me introduce you to the notion of trade-offs. Anyway, the idea that you're only really rich if you have a good chance of being featured on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" is exasperating. When did we become a nation of whiny ingrates? I suppose part of it must be growing up in the insular world of the "upper middle class," where parents apparently give their children all kinds of unreasonable expectations. (I grew up in Mesquite, TX, which I think makes me less crazy about these matters.) For example, I have a friend from Scarsdale, NY who insists his family is "middle class." When I pointed out the metrics Ezra mentions above, he explained that people like the Tischs of NYC (who once owned CBS) were rich, and his family was decidedly not in their ballpark. I pretty much gave up then. posted by Cheryl # 10:40 AM 
Comments:
I did indeed. It was sort of a requirement of living in Mesquite. In Hemet, CA, we also had the Ramona Pageant.
And what is a rodeo like exactly?
I googled the Ramona Pageant, and it is apparently based on a book I have never heard of and is not explained on the website, although it does explain the menu of the bbq dinner served at the show in extreme detail. How do you account for this discrepancy?
I cannot account for this discrepancy having never partaken of the bbq dinner. I went as part of a class field trip in 4th grade. You can read all about the novel here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramona. The pageant is just a performance of the play.
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I found the rodeo boring, but I've never cared for any sport. << Home Archives December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 |
