Friday, December 03, 2010

Bush Tax Cuts,What Is Rich?, Ron Santo Dies

Cut the Cuts: CNN has a new poll out that shows people may be changing their minds about those "Bush tax cuts". More than half of the people polled say people making more than $250,000 should no longer get the tax cut. I think for some people this comes down to how much money do you have to make a year to be "rich". Is it $100,000? Is it $250,000? Is it $1 million? Is it $5 million? What's the magic number for you to consider yourself rich? Or does it depend if it's the other guy we're talking about?:) For me, I think my figure would be $500,000 Yeah, that's a lot of money. So, is $250,000. I guess I think you are "well-off", if you are under half a mill. But you are rich, if you make more than that. Ask me again, when I make that much money!

Ron Santo: I'm a life-long St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. But Ron Santo deserved to see his beloved Chicago Cubs win a World Series. He played for them. He announced their games forever. And, unfortunately, he battled health issues for decades. Through it all, you never failed to hear his passion for the team and the club he loved so much. I have no idea how he managed to get the strength to keep going all these years with all he battled. But he did. And he deserved some joy from that team, instead of all those years of heartache. I hope he gets to see a winner upstairs.

3 comments:

Anthill_Goddess said...

I would say "rich" would fall in the $500,000 range...and this comes from someone who's family of 4 survives nicely on less than $35,000 a year.

desmoinesdem said...

Earning $250,000 per year puts someone in the top 2 percent of all earners nationwide. If that's not "rich," then the word has lost its meaning.

I just checked the US Census Bureau website. In Iowa, median household income is $48,585. I would say anyone making twice that amount qualifies as "rich." That doesn't mean they are rich enough to afford any house or car or vacation they want, but they are certainly able to afford a good standard of living.

In an expensive place like New York City, $100K a year is more of a middle-class income.

Anthill_Goddess said...

@desmoinesdem...if earning twice the median household income for the area doesn't leave them "rich" enough to afford any house, car, or vacation they want, then I'm sorry to say that their tastes run too "rich" also.

As I said, we have an income of less than $35,000 a year. We have two children. We OWN a 4 year-old, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. We own an old beater of a truck, a not quite sold old SUV, AND a 3.5 year old SUV. We take one small vacation a year. If we wanted to have or do more, I would go to work and put my child who's not yet school-age in daycare rather than stay home to raise him. We work for what we have...and have a great deal more than some of the "higher-earners". ANYONE can do it if they really want to...it's the American Dream!