McCain campaign considers Middle Income = $250,000 per year

[stray cat]

On Meet the Press the McCain spokesperson (Fiorina?) said Obama will raise taxes on the middle income - McCain campaign seems to believe middle income is $250,000 per year.

We need to push that McCain is so out of touch he believes the average income is $250,000 per year. Of course, he doesn't care about you if you make less than that.

[NYC_SKP]

1. That puts me in bottom third of the bottom half.

And I don't know a single soul who isn't in the bottom half of the bottom half.

I guess we're all dirt poor.

:shrug:

[stray cat]

2. Actually, now that I think about it - I don't either......

and here I thought I was at least close to middle class....

[Peacetrain]

3. Sad isn't it

no wonder we are in such deep stuff with the economy. This is the mind set we have had to deal with for the last 7 years.

[The empressof all]

4. Just another way to flim flam the American People

Most people in this country consider themselves middle class, from those who make $50,000 a year up to those making $250,000. So of course when McCain comes out and says Obama will raise taxes on the Middle Class people think they will be affected.

Typical Republican manipulation and lies.

[Wickerman]

5. wow, 14 years of post secondary education

and 40 years of professional service between Mrs. Wickerman and me and we aren't even middle class. And here I thought we were doing good work and living reasonably well.

:argh:

[Franks Wild Years]

6. McCain is a multi-millionaire.

He's lived an incredibly, unimaginably pampered life for the majority of his years on this planet so it stands to reason that 250k is average in his distorted, aged, out of touch little world.

[n2doc]

7. Given inflation pretty soon it will take 250K to live a "middle class" life

The rest of us peons will just have to dumpster dive

[Divine Discontent]

9. and there's the awful truth!

I once found a LOTR prop worth 600 bucks in a dumpster...

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Fuzzy terminology allows liars to have a field day.

Middle income, middle class, average income, median income, upper class, working class - only two of those terms have an actual quantifiable definition.

Average income is a piss poor measure of anything because of the 'Bill Gates gets on the bus' problem. Median income is a better measure of wealth distribution. However that brings up another problem: 'income' does not equal 'wealth'.

This game they play over which segment of the middle class -

by which I basically mean what wikki says "The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social influence or power. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, academics, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class

- is going to get socked with the 'you're rich' taxes is absurd when nothing is being done about wealth distribution.

But even just looking at income distribution, you need to get this into perspective. I present The L Curve, from http://www.lcurve.org/ :



One needs to understand that most all of us up to a very small number of very wealthy and powerful people, are just working stiffs. That football field is demarcated in 10% income segments.

The US population is represented along the length of the football field, arranged in order of income.

Median US family income (the family at the 50 yard line) is ~$40,000 (a stack of $100 bills 1.6 inches high.)

--The family on the 95 yard line earns about $100,000 per year, a stack of $100 bills about 4 inches high.

--At the 99 yard line the income is about $300,000, a stack of $100 bills about a foot high.

--The curve reaches $1 million (a 40 inch high stack of $100 bills) one foot from the goal line.

--From there it keeps going up...it goes up 50 km (~30 miles) on this scale!

[stray cat]

10. So the McCain campain considers people on the 2 yard line middle income

[Divine Discontent]

11. they'll do and say anything to hoodwink people to voting for mcsame!

America better use two brain cells this time and wisen up!

more at --- www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[Motown_Johnny]

13. Great Info... but there is no 95 yard line....(your terminoligy is fuzzy)

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Ever seen a football field?

There are hashmarks for the 1-9 lines and yard lines for the 0's. I agree that the terminology is a bit fuzzy, but the graph does have the hashmarks.

[TwilightGardener]

12. Well, I have to give him some credit--I would've thought $250,000 would

be the Working Poor to a guy who married an heiress and owns 8 luxury properties.

[TheFarseer]

14. the median income is about $26,000

Why don't we stop pretending people making a quarter of a million are working class joe-6-packs. Someone has got to pay taxes or else we can't have a society. That's just how it works. You can't get welfare moms and guys working a shift at Wendy's and a shift at Walgreens to pay alot of taxes. So it's got to be doctors and lawyers and hedge fund managers paying the most taxes. What I really get tired of is them pretending that we're talking about taxing ALL their money away from them. We're talking about raising it just a few percentage points, for goodness sakes. As long as I'm ranting, I also get tired of them pretending like lower income folks don't pay any taxes. Even if you zero out your income for income tax - and you'd be surprised how many people can't, you're still paying payroll taxes and it all goes to the same general fund.

[AllentownJake]

15. Middle class is always hard to define and everyone wants to be called it

People making that much never call themselves rich because there are people making way more than them but in comparison to the rest of the society they are rich.

[deadmessengers]

17. Trying to define "middle class" on a national level is absolutely foolish.

A family of four with an income of $80,000/year living in San Francisco, Boston, or New York City would be somewhere towards the lower end of the middle class. In a place like Knoxville, TN or Charleston, WV, they're pretty damn well-off. Then, the question becomes, how do you treat the 2 families equitably?

[AllentownJake]

20. COLA adjustment in the Income Tax?

Doubt it would ever pass. Regional interest would overcome any party interest

[LiberalFighter]

16. Where the hell is my $250,000?? I want to buy a $500,000 home.

[depakid]

19. In order to keep a middle class lifestyle of the 1990's- that's what it's going to take

in the 2010's.

If not more.

[Fleshdancer]

21. Riiight. and using this logic, the poverty line is at what? $75,000??

:wtf:

[That Is Quite Enough]

22. McCain: LOL WUT

[AZ Criminal JD]

23. Uh, Obama said the same thing.

He said his tax plan would not raise taxes on anyone in the middle class which he defined as below $250,000.