Reply to Where do you draw the line between upper middle class and upper class?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It has nothing to do with "regurgitation" it has to with basic statistics and arithmetic. 
 
"I guarantee you the top 9% of the wealthiest people in the U.S. make more than 300k per year."

Except it's obvious that they don't ALL make that much.  Only 4 or 5% of households earn over $300K a year - so obviously it's impossible for the top 9 or 10% to all be earning at least 300K.

And that 4-5% includes everybody who makes 300K a year includes one- and two-earner working household.  It includes the "idle rich." It includes those retirees who have very good incomes from their sizeable investments.  It includes those who spend it all now and those who save. All that's being reported is the number of people making that level of income.  All these people added up yields half the number you claim.

Also where do you get this figure that 1 in 10 American households have a $3 million net worth?  I think $3 million NW is around the 95th percentile.  Obviously that overlaps with the 300K+ group but obviously there are retirees whose annual income is below that in the group and some $300K HHs that either haven't accumulated that level of wealth yet or adjust their spending to match their income and don't save.  [/quote]

UC is defined based on wealth. Wealth includes things like inheritance, investments, assets, and income. Taking just one of those factors (income) as a dividing line for UC is meaningless. It doesn’t even make sense to look at income percentiles in assessing wealth because some wealthy people work low paying “fun jobs.” And income alone is meaningless without considering individual vs family, locality, etc. plus the fact that income is not stable throughout a lifetime. And then there is the fact that there is a much bigger divide financially between the 90th % and 99%.

If you want to continue to think a dual GS family driving their minivan to the beach for vacations is UC and shopping for kids clothes at Target is UC then I just don’t even know what to tell you. [/quote]

So do you withdraw this statement:  "I guarantee you the top 9% of the wealthiest people in the U.S. make more than 300k per year."

Because first of all, it's wrong and second, it undermines whatever point you're trying to make about the upper class being different from the UMC and the difference between HH income and net wealth(but it's more like a 60% correlation though you seem to think there's little overlap at all).

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