WHAT…? There is no ‘official definition’ - but by ANY definition…
From a taxation perspective, I am wealthy, taxed as wealthy, and believe I should be taxed as wealthy - I can afford a higher tax rate. From a lifestyle standpoint - I wish I could afford to shop Chanel, but I can’t - my clothes come from Kohls.
From the standpoint of the average Bangladeshi, you are wealthy - wealth is a very relative thing.
I’ve lived below the poverty line…and I know wealthy people. The style of living I can afford now is much more in line with the point I crossed the poverty line into middle class than it has to do with the people I know who are actually wealthy. I shop at the Dollar Store. I watch my grocery bill. I keep my house at 72 degrees in the winter so my heat bill is reasonable. I clean my own within-one-standard-deviation-of-median value for my city house and mow my own lawn. Either Brainiac4 or I HAVE to work - we cannot live off our investments (which is my definition of middle class - if you can live off your investments you are wealthy - for us, that’s about $2100 in dividends and interest income - we aren’t managing to live off that yet) - we both work, but one of us HAS to.
Meaning that there are several definitions, none of them official. But by all of the several definitions, you and the Palins do not fall into the middle class.
This is exactly the kind of disconnect that I fear Palin has. You think that you have the average struggles of most people, just because you aren’t able to have a spending free-for-all. The fact is, though, that your household is in the top 5% of incomes in the U.S. Most people in this country - the true middle class - don’t have it nearly as good as you.
Obama is rich, flat out. His 2007 income was over $4,000,000 ( more than 4x his 2006 income which was still over $900 grand ).
Biden is comfortably upper-middle class at worst, with a 2007 income of $320,000 ( ~$250 grand in 2006 ).
John McCain of course made a lot less than Obama in earned income and just a bit more than Biden, but is still staggeringly wealthy due to his wife.
Palin made $128,000 in 2007, maybe double that with her husband tossed in. Like Biden I’d probably peg her as upper-middle class. Looks like her net assets amount to very roughly around $1 million.
So is Palin more middle-class than the rest of the candidates? Yeah, I guess, by income. But it’s a pretty stupid thing to brag about. There is neither virtue nor shame to be associated with such. It’s more than a little like boasting she’s the best looking - yeah, maybe, but so what?
I definitely think that it’s fair for Palin to describe herself as middle-class. The reason her income is so high now is because she’s the Governor, but I don’t think that a couple years worth of making that income suddenly changes your outlook, lifestyle, or culture. If you start as middle class, or lower, and you work your way up to where she’s at now, you don’t automatically become upper class. Upper middle, maybe. But she’s working for a living, having a million in assets doesn’t take you anywhere close to retirement at her age, and as Dangerosa points out, if you have to work, you can’t possibly be considered upper class.
Also, going back to the point I made earlier about how she interacts with Trig, I actually felt better about that after I watched the debate…I thought the way she was holding him was pretty typical considering that she was doing so while talking to people…she patted and rubbed his back, and although she didn’t talk to him that might be because 1) she was distracted at the moment, or 2) he appeared to be sleeping when she took him from her daughter (although the transfer seemed to wake him up). I do think it’s strange to give him to the 7-year-old to carry…she seems so little, I would be afraid she would drop him or trip or something. Yikes.
I didn’t really pay attention to the after-debate stuff, but I was watching footage of Palin and her crew arrive in St. Louis, debark from the plane and greet people on the tarmac - totally nerve-racking. She handed Trig to the 7 year old - who seemed to be just barely holding onto him, turned around, and walked over to some people to talk. Isn’t there another adult who could hold him? An aide or something?
A seven year old is perfectly capable of holding a baby. I’m the oldest of six kids and I helped my mum with my younger siblings all the time. It’s what you do when you’re in a big family.
While I do not admire Mrs. Palin’s politics in any way, shape, or form, I think these comments about how she holds her baby are silly, guys. This is number 5 kid, and number 5 kid is not the splendid and rare precious novelty that number 1 or 2 kid is.
This is a big deal for that family, and it seems perfectly normal to me that they would all be there. When they’re back in Alaskan obscurity, for the rest of their lives those kids will be able to talk about the exciting time they had. 7 year old girl will be able to say to her little brother, “Yeah, and I was holding you! You were there, even if you don’t remember.”
Biden, who has been serving in the Senate since he was 30, told the FEC that his assets were only between $62,000 and $405,000, with liabilities of between $140,000 and $365,000.
That’s a mighty big range on both figures. I wonder why it can’t be narrowed down more. But apparently his only large asset is his house. His income this last year was more than the Palin household income, but it would appear his total assets are less.
Does that 128K count the per diem living expenses she was collecting for living in her own home? She has a lot of perks as a governor, some of which don’t count as income but definitely improve her standard of living. They own two homes (not counting the governors mansion), and a lot of assets for someone claiming to be middle class. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got some money tucked away that she’s not disclosing for obvious reasons.
The Palin’s largest asset is their home in Wasilla, Alaska, valued at between $500,000 and $1 million. They own a fishing leasehold on the Nushagak River in Alaska worth between $100,000 and $250,000, and various mutual funds and stocks worth between $113,000 and $470,000. The form requires disclosure of asset values in broad ranges.
It’s a terrible way to assess what class a person belongs to, though. If a person makes half a million a year and spends it all on expensive vacations, cars, and clothes, and doesn’t save a dime, are they middle class because they have no net worth? And if a person makes 75 or a hundred grand, but scrimps and pinches until at age 50 they have a million in assets, which they don’t touch because they need it for retirement, are they upper class? I don’t know why Biden has no assets…maybe he was feeding starving orphans, maybe he was spending it on hookers & blow, or maybe he’s just a bad money manager, but in any case, I think we would have to know what the reason is before we can come close to deciding what class he belongs to.
The only way I would let a 7 year old hold a baby is while sitting down on a couch and while supervised. You do not hand a baby off to a 7 year old like she’s your nanny, and then turn around and ignore them.
It’s literally due any second now. Her official due date is tomorrow. We’ve had a couple of false alarms, but still waiting as of now. Her last OB was on wednesday and her doctor said she didn’t expect my wife would make it through the weekend, but as of this posting, we’re still waiting.
Oh, I know! Every little twinge and you’re on red alert! I ended up being induced with mine, which is kind of weird, because despite having delivered 2 kids, I don’t actually know what it’s like to go into labor…but I know the nerve-wracking part, that’s for sure.
I assume by your use of the word “it” that you don’t know boy/girl yet? Or are you just not saying?
My wife says the same thing. I ask her “Is that what you felt like the first two times?” She says 'I don’t know." It must be some pretty amorphous, idiosyncratic sensations before the hard labor really hits. She is talking about feeling a lot of “pressure,” and I remember her saying that a lot when the other two came.
Actually we do know it’s a girl. I guess I was using “it” to refer to the delivery, not the baby.
I would guess that putting three kids through college, two of which went through law school, would put a dent in his personal assets. Though all three of them could have had privately funded scholarships, it’s highly doubtful they would have received federally funded financial aid.
I feel like this thread is giving me a look into Bizarro World. I guess I’m completely out of touch with “middle America” because I always assumed that somebody who makes something like 50x what I make in a year, between real estate, stocks, bonds, and 401k investments was “wealthy”. Hell, I thought that was living the American Dream! I had no idea it was actually the equivalent of struggling along and sitting around the kitchen table wondering how bills would get paid. I’m sure my peers will also be shocked to hear how hard it is to be worth more than one million dollars, but will also feel comforted to know that millionaires really, honestly, truly feel our shared pain.