What percent are you?

[TBF]

I have been doing some searches this evening to pinpoint who exactly is in the top 1%. I think assets vs. debt play into this (and especially into lifestyles and wealth over the long term), but this calculator at least gives you the gist based upon income.

"The Occupy Wall Street movement seeks to speak for the bottom 99% of the population by income, which includes pretty much everyone who makes less than $500,000 a year."

At this WSJ link you can plug in your own household income to find out your percentile based on income:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/10/19/what-percent-are-you/

If you go to this link you can choose to calculate by income or net worth:
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/

Pretty interesting.

[msongs]

1. yep, not soaring past the middle here nt

[TBF]

2. I'm solidly in with the rest of the 99ers as well. nt

[NYC_SKP]

3. Household income of $43,000 is smack in the middle at 50%, but it's misleading....

Household income, what's that? Two working adults???

Two incomes of $21,5000, about $10/hour, is average? That's AWFUL!

:shrug:

[Starry Messenger]

4. k&r

[RoseMead]

5. Bottom 20% here.

No wonder I've been out waving signs on a street corner.

[Hydra]

17. Don't feel left out

Been a resident of the bottom 20 for as long as I've been around.

[PETRUS]

6. K&R

If you can't round your net worth off to the nearest ten-million, ya ain't a member of the club.

[TBF]

8. Yup, you got it. nt

[-..__...]

7. 61%

56 years old, zero debt, live by myself.

Assets?... Probably 15k - 18K in salable items, another 60k - 65k in an annuity, 3k in my bank account.

However... the cost of living here is on the high end (Boston), so, in that regard, I'm managing well enough to

make ends meet slightly better than most.

[madokie]

9. 99 percenter here

We live within our means too

[progressoid]

10. Damn - that's fucking depressing.

[TBF]

25. Well, I tend to think of it as eye-opening ..

as in why should you and I be bailing out rich folk repeatedly with their investment schemes, when we can barely pay our student loans or health care premiums. It is crazy.

The derivatives BS put me over the edge last night - that's when I started looking for income information. They can bale out themselves - we can't afford it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. 63%

I pay some income tax but I'm certainly not wealthy.

[canoeist52]

12. It take a two-income family to equal what one income used to

afford. When women went to work, their paychecks made up the gap in income when the price of commodities, fuel and housing rose out of reach. Now it seems like even two incomes aren't enough.

[Riftaxe]

13. 0% I am not going to let random people

who put up internet polls assign me a percentage in an attempt to define and pigeon hole me :P

Especially considering being a percent is absolutely fucking meaningless.

[MrModerate]

14. Of course, there's always the choice . . .

That if you don't like the game (and I don't think anyone here or at the WSJ thinks this calculation is much more than a game), then don't play the game and (as a result) don't complain about the game.

[TBF]

22. :) Hey, we are all in this boat together ...

I think it's more meaningful when we realize how many of us make so little money, versus those few we keep bailing out. That was my point in posting it anyway ... ymmv.

[MrModerate]

15. Well, I'm up in the high . . .

90s, but I sure as heck don't feel rich. One thing I do know, however — I'm undertaxed, compared to any other developed country's taxpayers.

[TBF]

23. I'm a mixed bag -

high up there in income, but we have a lot of debt (mostly student loans - we both are way over-educated). Neither of us had much money starting out in this life, and we are slowly paying all that off. But still, at this point, I may be 90s in income but I am much lower in net worth.

And yes, despite the debt, I am also willing to pay more taxes to help out everyone else. But I'd love it to go out in rebate checks to lower-income tax payers directly or an excellent single-payer health care system, rather than bail-outs for folks richer than myself, and endless military action. Ya know?

[Divine Discontent]

16. I don't need a calculation to determine it, sadly.

Get it here now, or one of a million other designs! http://www.zazzle.com/republicans_2012_keeping_millions_out_of_work_bumper_sticker-128659602907896843?rf=238107662556833486eping_millions_out_of_work_bumper_sticker-128659602907896843?rf=238107662556833486

[tech5270]

18. I think the fair judgment is on income not assets

Assets are what you have saved or invested from what you didn't need to spend. That was taxed as you earned it. Taxing physical assets is going to hit working people hard and is just making you pay more later for something you already purchased. Taxing invested income should be at a lesser rate to provide incentive for you to put the asset back into the working economy. That would provide business monies to advance their business.

[TBF]

24. I posted both just to give people that info -

if you look up a bit I am a real mixed bag on this (high income, low assets - which is probably not that common unless you were also a poor person who went to school for a long time on loans, or if you're underwater on housing or something). Some people are the other way around - lower income with high assets (maybe work in a gov't job but have substantial inherited money sitting in trust). I dunno which should count more, I'll leave that up to y'all. But I do support small businesses, and I think that's what you're getting at with your post ...

[Modern_Matthew]

19. Let's just say... even if it weren't so inclusive... I'd still be part of it. nt

[MrModerate]

20. Nicely put. n/t

[TBF]

26. I hear ya,

and I enjoy your posts on this board. I know you are part of the 99% and very progressive in thought.

[Hatchling]

21. Hot damn! I'm in the 1 %!

The BOTTOM 1% that is.

[Odin2005]

27. $15,000/yr, 17th percentile.

[TBF]

28. That is what I made my first few years out of school -

Starting at both the law firms & on the Hill (as a legal or congressional asst) was about 15K. But in the 90s you could work your way up to $50K within a few years as a more experienced legal assistant, or go back to graduate school and become more specialized in economics etc... to advance on the hill. These days I'm guessing it's much more difficult to do that.

[MrScorpio]

29. I don't need to do the numbers in that puppy

I know already where I am

[lunatica]

30. They need to have that for each State and even each City

Just saying. It's much more expensive to live in the San Francisco Bay Area than it is to live in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

[kctim]

31. What percent you are, isn't important

What you believe and how you view it is.
That is why the claim of representing 99% are so ridiculous.

[TBF]

33. "Belief" is religion - conditions dictate politics. nt

[kctim]

34. Beliefs define how people view "conditions"

Beliefs are why progressives and conservatives have such extreme views on conditions and solutions.

Beliefs dictate politics. If they did not, people would not use government to force others to accept and support them.

[TBF]

35. I can agree that beliefs have been dictating here for awhile - but as conditions worsen

we'll see how that works out. Once you have nothing left to lose the beliefs fall by the wayside. My opinion ...

[kctim]

38. I share that opinion

But then we have the matter of what one believes defines "having nothing left to lose," money or rights. And which they are willing to fight and die for.

[PragmaticLiberal]

32. Just by income I come in at 84%

[trackfan]

36. 31% income, 65% net worth n/t

[Skidmore]

37. The percentages measured on that site and the 99/1 are two different measurements. Apples & oranges

The 1% OWS protesters refer to does not reflect income, but wealth held. Wealth include much more than paycheck or cash flow for some.

[TBF]

39. that's why I provided the 2nd link -

that calculator gives you the option to do it by income or net worth. (It's at the top of the calculator)