300k a year IS rich.

Half that is middle class.

We earn 100K in HHI combined (family of 4) and while we are obliged to be careful, we cannot by any stretch of the imagination call ourselves poor. It's still middle class, and in some part of the country, that would make us rich!

No we can't because that's rich.

$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

You either have a warped world view or have a lot more debts than we do. We make $300K and have one nine year old. We went on several international vacations and are hosting a cookout for 15 of DD's friends this weekend at the pool that we belong to for no reason at all other than we feel like it. I think our life is quite different than someone making 50K. Now, granted, we only need to pay for college for one kid, but we've been funding her 529 since her birth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

Agreed, we are trying to pull out of this terrible income range. It's better to be above or below.

Absolutely horrible range Drop below, shouldn't be a problem.

It is so terrible to make several hundred thousand dollars. Woe is the PP. with their nice vacations, iPhones, cable TV, fancy cars, ability to pay for college and retirement savings. Give me a fucking break. --was poor once

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

Agreed, we are trying to pull out of this terrible income range. It's better to be above or below.

Absolutely horrible range Drop below, shouldn't be a problem.

Anonymous wrote:$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

Agreed, we are trying to pull out of this terrible income range. It's better to be above or below.

Anonymous wrote:$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

This

$300k in high COL areas is far from rich. You get all the negatives of actually being rich like high taxes. But none of the support of being poor like college financial aid for children. $250-$500k is an economic death zone. Sure you may get a better annual vacation or nicer car than someone making $50k, but the day to day quality of life is not that much different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've learned something interesting from all this fighting, which is that apparently the people most convinced they *aren't* rich are conservatives. Some have argued here that people who think they have more than enough on $200k are "social justice warriors." This helps me understand why our republican senators are currently throwing sick children under a bus just so rich people can get tax breaks.

Not the conclusion I will make. I don't know about your healthcare costs, but mine grew astronomically with obamacare (9% for premiums per year and new coinsurance that makes you hit your deductible fast, which I never had till this year).

Are you actually on an Obamacare exchange plan? If not, the growth in premiums and coinsurance is thanks to your employer and the costs of medical care, NOT obamacare. #factsareyourfriend.

Yes, I am and I don't qualify for the subsidy. I also enjoyed the letter saying that next year will be a small 8.9% increase with a slight change in coverage...

I think a lot of this depends on how you were raised.

(1) Growing up, my DH's family had very little money. His parents also followed the advice to buy the smallest house in the best neighborhood (to have access to a good school district). As a result, my DH could sense that his family had a lower income than most other families in the neighborhood. Now that we make $350,000 HHI, he feels that we are definitely rich (although he does not like to spend money at all).

(2) Growing up, my family was upper middle class. We had one of the nicest houses in a modest neighborhood, and I got the sense that we had more income than my classmates and neighbors (based on our vacations etc). Now that we make $350,000 HHI, I feel like we're stretching to do all the things that I used to take for granted (saving for college for 3 kids, saving for retirement, having a nice home, etc). Granted, we live in Bethesda, where people tend to have decent incomes or wealth.

Anonymous wrote:What I've learned from this thread is that people really and truly don't understand what a "social justice warrior" is. Or a neo liberal for that matter.

Just a bunch of name calling.

Um, are you new here? have you seen the Political Discussion forum?

What I've learned from this thread is that people really and truly don't understand what a "social justice warrior" is. Or a neo liberal for that matter.

Just a bunch of name calling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've learned something interesting from all this fighting, which is that apparently the people most convinced they *aren't* rich are conservatives. Some have argued here that people who think they have more than enough on $200k are "social justice warriors." This helps me understand why our republican senators are currently throwing sick children under a bus just so rich people can get tax breaks.

Not the conclusion I will make. I don't know about your healthcare costs, but mine grew astronomically with obamacare (9% for premiums per year and new coinsurance that makes you hit your deductible fast, which I never had till this year).

Are you actually on an Obamacare exchange plan? If not, the growth in premiums and coinsurance is thanks to your employer and the costs of medical care, NOT obamacare. #factsareyourfriend.

Yes, $300k is rich. The problem is that even upper middle class and now some lower upper class families cannot afford to buy homes. Pretty soon we'll all be selling the naming rights to our homes and cars.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2017/06/28/detroit-car-affordability/434986001/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not since just before the Great Depression has the income gap between rich and poor Americans been so vast. The top 1 percent of U.S. families has an income, on average, $1,153,293 a year — about 25 times the $45,567 earned on average by the rest of American families.

Those numbers are from a report, “Income Inequality in the U.S. by State, Metropolitan Area, and County,” by the Economic Policy Institute. EPI, a nonpartisan think tank, examined state-level tax data from 1917 through 2013 (the latest year available) to report the gap, the earnings and the trends in every state.

Overall, the top 1 percent of earners took home 20.1 percent of all income in the U.S. in 2013.

Virginia: $987,607 per year

Maryland: $1,024,110 per year

https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/what-the-richest-1-percent-earns-every-state/


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The rich are getting richer and leaving us all behind in the dust and instead of doing something about THAT, we fight with each other.

I am not even close to 1% but I am okay with rich getting richer as long as they earned it lawful way. What are you proposing we do?

Add more tax brackets?????

No, I don't like that idea. I like flat-tax better. Why should people who "out-performed" others have to pay penalty for doing better in life? Let the best win.

Hahahahahahahahaha at the idea that the rich have "out-performed" the middle class and poor. Yes, if you write the laws so that they benefit you and penalize everyone else, you're just an amazing performer! Damn they've got you snowed.

This is the truth, but the even funnier thing is that the middle class and lower middle class blame the POOR people (welfare, immigrants) for their problems. HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHa!