We are ruled by people who think $250,000/year means you're poor, but the minimum wage is too high

[phantom power]

QOTD:

We are ruled by people who think $250,000 annual income means you're poor, but the minimum wage is too high and the olds have it too good.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2013/02/no-jobs-no-money.html

[Make7]

1. But don't most people work at least 455½ hours a week? ( n/t )

[oldandhappy]

2. wow Telling comment.

And working 15 days out of two months is the role model from Congress.

[Cleita]

3. We need to boil that down to bumper stickers and T-Shirts and

wear them every day so people see them.

[Jamaal510]

11. Here's a site to make t-shirts out of them:

http://www.customink.com/lab?PK=10201#shared

[Live and Learn]

15. Interesting

One would have to work over 94 hours per day at minimum wage to earn that paltry sum of 250,00 per year.

[kentauros]

32. Here's a start:

(just my calculations first, or use as you please)
250,000.00 = 120.19/hr
____15,080 = __7.25/hr
____18,720 = __9.00/hr

The wealthy say $120/hr is poor,
but $7.25/hr is too high for us.

[forestpath]

4. K&R

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. This is perfect

Right to the point. K&R

[Squinch]

6. They think minimum wage is too high because "the kids don't need any more money than that."

I actually heard someone say that.

It was someone who has minimum wage, family-supporting workers doing his gardening, serving his morning coffee, cleaning his rooms in his frequent hotel trips, etc.

But I guess they don't count.

[Mopar151]

7. Bob & Ray - "Great Lakes Paperclip Company"

This says it all - well worth the listen! "You can't wear shoes on 14 cents a week!"

[Mr.Bill]

9. I've always been a big Bob and Ray fan but I've never heard that one.

Funny stuff. Thanks.

[Mopar151]

14. If you called it "Gingrich & Rommney Stationery Supply", it would be right up to date.

Ironically, it's about the only Bob & Ray I remember well - it completely sums up clueless, cheapskate bosses.

[tclambert]

16. Somehow this satire of business became Wal-Mart's operating philosophy.

Except they realized they could skip the "union contract" part by not allowing unions. Now if they could just get the minimum wage laws repealed . . .

[reflection]

30. "Write if you get work."

Loved me some Bob and Ray. I'm 42 now. Around the time I was 13, I was listening to old Bob and Ray routines on my Walkman and had a book with some of their transcripts I carried around. My friends thought I was weird as hell. I suppose I was.

On edit: I always wondered if Olbermann got his "worst person in the world" shtick from them.

[Smilo]

8. Part of the problem is

they declare "$xxxx" in earnings, but forget their bonuses, the benefits, the perks, etc. they earn, so when they think about their pay - well those poor little darlings are earning next to nothing.

[indepat]

10. We are ruled by a group of people who think those earning $250,000 to $450,000 per annum recently

needed a tax cut of up to $9,200 per year and those tax cuts must be paid for by reducing the earned benefits of those on social security and Medicare. It's hard to get one's mind wrapped around the cunning corruption, mendacity, and misfeasance of those of that mindset: it is, imo, a manifestation of the virulent right-wing cancer that has metastasized throughout the body politic and poisoning the whole of America for the 99%.

[Coyotl]

28. We are ruled by that group of people earning $400,000 to $400,000,000 per annum

That's the problem. Even Nancy Pelosi is one of the millionaire class. The wealthy control both political parties.

[noiretextatique]

53. bingo!

this can't be said enough. most of our political class are millionaires and are looking out for their own interests. to hell with the rest of us.

[Jamaal510]

12. We are ruled by people who think $250,000/year means you're poor, but the minimum wage is too high.

And almost half of our country's voters find this acceptable.

[freshwest]

13. Which is the really scary part. I'm sure that half the country isn't making that much.

[oberliner]

17. Who thinks $250,000/year means you're poor?

I've never heard of anyone claiming this.

[hobbit709]

18. The Romneys and their ilk if you haven't noticed.

[oberliner]

19. Well, fortunately, they didn't win the election

I am quite confident that this administration and the majority of Congress do not believe this to be true.

[hobbit709]

21. "majority of Congress"-like the Orange Boner and his cohorts?

[oberliner]

23. Show me where any of them say $250k/year means you are poor

I just think that's not accurate. I know that a lot of them are out of touch, but that's just off the charts.

[hobbit709]

24. They say it by their actions.

[oberliner]

25. Fair enough

Seems like a heck of a lot of money to me.

[awoke_in_2003]

49. Yep, never trust what any politician says...

with he exception of one or two, they are all compulsive liars. Watch what they do, then you see who they are truly working for.

[Jackpine Radical]

34. The Wall Street Journal shows how ending the Bush tax cuts will hurt average Americans--

[oberliner]

35. Wow

These are average Americans?

I don't think I know anyone who makes half as much money as any of these people.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. Quid

erat demonstrandum.

[oberliner]

44. But we are not ruled by the Wall Street Journal

I don't think most people in power can honestly believe $250k/year = poor.

[Jackpine Radical]

46. Give it up, awreddy, huh? $250k may not be poor

for LITTLE PEOPLE, but it's damn sure poor for one of THEM. You know, for real humans like them & the others at the country club, not to be confused with the semi-humans who clean the carpets at the country club.

[oberliner]

47. There are wealthy liberals

Who understand that $250k/year is not poor.

I just don't think it's fair to make generalizations like this.

I'll leave it there.

[Jackpine Radical]

48. Nobody is denying that.

What's being pointed out is that there is a vast emotional disconnect for many prosperous people, including many of the powerful in our society, such that they can't empathize with or understand the plight of those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

I think that the original statement makes that point well and succinctly.

You know, I'm an old, privileged, white man and I don't take offense at having others point out that the Republican Party is the party of old, rich, privileged white men. I happen to personally know and associate with a lot of exceptions to that rule, but demographically speaking, it's still true.

And I'll leave it there.

[jambo101]

20. Mitt Romney thinks middle income is in that price range.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/romney-middle-income_n_1883819.html

[oberliner]

22. Not poor though

And he didn't win the election.

I do think some misguided people think that income level is "middle class" which kind of blows my mind, but I don't think people believe it to be poor.

[athena]

42. Did you miss all the posts around the discussion of tax increases?

People would post, complaining that raising taxes on those making over $250,000 a year was unfair, and that such an income didn't go very far in certain cities. They wanted the threshold to be higher. It was pretty obscene.

I don't care how expensive it may be to live in certain parts of the country (I have lived in some of the most expensive places in the world). Anyone making $250,000 a year can afford to pay a little more in taxes. Even someone making $100,000 a year could afford to pay more. Anyone who makes that much and would struggle to pay a little more really needs to learn about personal finance and discipline.

ETA: Here is an example (though to be fair, most people on that thread were talking about their conservative friends complaining that $250,000 wasn't much -- not complaining themselves): http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021812423

[oberliner]

43. No one in that thread is saying that $250k = poor

Just that it maybe doesn't equal rich.

Which, I don't agree with. Seems rich to me.

[Moostache]

50. But, but, but....the private schools are necessary and the dinners out that run to $500 a throw too!

The sad thing is that almost all Americans tend to live beyond their means.

I know a lot of people that make between $25K and $50K a year who all seem to think they make $100K and do stupid things like take vacations on credit or lease $30K new cars or rent townhouses when they really only need a studio or 1-bedroom. This gets magnified by the $250K crowd who think that because they see poorer people (or the "unwashed masses" that their bosses, radio heroes and wannabe role models disparage so vociferously at the country club as being "takers&quot driving cars in the $30K range that they MUST get the $75K Mercedes-Benz instead. And dammit, if those pedestrian wage earners and line workers can buy things, then the $250K class is going to treat themselves like they are million-dollar-a-year big shots.

Hell, just look at what moron professional athletes do with their money - clowns like Vince Young sign a $100M contract that guarantees only $20M and then proceed to spend the entire $100M forgetting things like taxes, non-guaranteed future earnings and the rest of their lives when they have the skill set of a $25K a year person and the tastes of a $25M a year person.

[cilla4progress]

26. So true...

great post.

[tjwash]

27. Hey - you own a refrigerator and a microwave - suck it up, your richer than most of the world

I swear to god, some rich shithead said that to me the other day.

[kentauros]

33. I haven't had any such idiotic comments said to me as yet,

but if I do, I suspect I'll counter with:

"We don't live in the rest of the world, we live here. Our standard of living is higher here and no comparison. There is simply no way a person here could live on 50 cents an hour, or less, as they do in those other parts of the world. And really, don't you want people here to be able to buy stuff and help the economy overall? Wasn't that was Bush' whole stick with his rebate checks? Maybe people bought their refrigerator and microwave with that government welfare that was actually pushed upon us."

[Puzzledtraveller]

29. That's why the 99% is pure bullshit

Half of that 99% isn't one paycheck away from living on the streets, or already are.

[chervilant]

31. However,

many of us who identify as the "99%" are committed to ending radical income inequities, and helping the homeless and those living in poverty (globally, I believe).

IMHO, those who are modestly well off are facing a cross-roads about accumulating wealth. It's hard to complain with your mouth full, but some are getting it.

[Uncle Joe]

36. Kicked and recommended for a most profound observation.

Thanks for the thread, phantom power.

[LiberalFighter]

38. What should be thrown back at those folks is

If you think $250k a year is poor than it means that you mismanage your finances.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

39. Oh, and poor people have TVs and drive cars and use microwaves....

....so, you know, they're not really poor compared to poor people in other countries.

from me, of course, but an actual serious talking point that I've heard from some on the right.

[jambo101]

40. $250K a year poor?

Sounds like something from FOX as they live in an alternate reality and push this kind of BS to their gullible sheeple all the time, Remember Romney in a landslide?
What a bunch of bozo's .

[redstatebluegirl]

41. I always thought if I made "X amount of dollars" I would be comfortable not so many worries.

It is a ton less than 250,000 but we are not comfortable, I lose sleep regularly. Between insurance costs (blessed to have it but still it has increased a ton the past 10 years), an increase in gas to get to work, natural gas to heat our home, increased food costs, the hot summers that increase the electric bill and our general discomfort, the out of pocket medical expense (last year for us it was $7000) and taking care of elderly parents who need us, it is impossible to feel "comfortable". We tread water worse than we did as graduate students when I had 3 jobs.

Don't misunderstand we are blessed, but what we used to think of as "rich or just comfortable" is not at all the case any longer. Last year, actually 2011, I won an award for student service, it had a $1000 prize awarded, this threw us into a higher tax bracket which took the $1000 award plus some. It is crazy no sense working hard, getting an education and doing the right thing. As Leona Helmsley said "they come after the little people first".

[bamacrat]

45. The main people they talk about are business owners.

The pukes couldn't care less about a person working a job. Fuck them. They care about the "struggling" business owner who makes $250,000 a year. They would starve if they had to pay 3% more in taxes....... I'm sorry but unless you live in NYC or California, $250,000/yr puts you in the upper tier of earners. Hell $100,000/yr is pretty damn high for an individual, throw in another wage earner and you are making a nice living.

[WillyT]

51. HUGE K & R !!!

[donnasgirl]

52. Ruled

I am not ruled by no one my friend,those people work for us and it's time for the american people to remove their collective heads out of their asses and realize it.