Charles Koch Foundation: An Income Of $34,000 Puts You In The Wealthiest 1 Percent (VIDEO)

[applegrove]

Charles Koch Foundation: An Income Of $34,000 Puts You In The Wealthiest 1 Percent (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/koch-brothers-commercial_n_3581017.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

[Boomerproud]

1. Well then it's official

I'm dirt poor.

[hedda_foil]

2. Here's the whole article. It's only four paragraphs long. Chuckie's ad is at the link.

Charles Koch Foundation: An Income Of $34,000 Puts You In The Wealthiest 1 Percent (VIDEO)
David WinogradHuffington PostJul 11, 2013

If you earn $34,000, that puts you in the wealthiest 1 percent of the world, according to the Charles Koch Foundation.

That's one of many assertions made in a new ad that attempts to undermine government policies that protect low- and middle-income Americans. You can watch the ad, which is produced by Koch's conservative non-profit group, here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/koch-brothers-commercial_n_3581017.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Of course, earning $34,000 in the U.S. won't get you very far in most parts of the country. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that a family of three needs an income of at least $44,617 a year to cover basic living expenses in the cheapest parts of the country. In Wichita, Kansas, where the commercial is currently being aired, according to Think Progress, a family of three would need to make $53,721 to get by. That's far more than $30,000 a year that two parents earning minimum wage would make.

Minimum wage is one policy that billionaire Charles Koch would like to see eliminated. In a recent interview with the Wichita Eagle, Charles Koch described the federal minimum wage as one of the policies that “creating a culture of dependency” and added that it “reduces the mobility of labor.”