Comments on: The Triumph Of "Trickle Up" Economics

CBS' Dick Meyer Stands On The Income Gap Precipice And Ponders The View

[drivelphobe]

quartermass2...

What does payoff a car refer to? Also, I don''t know anyone who mows their own grass. Everyone has a gardener and most people get new cars more frequently, like every 2 years. Where are you from, the skids?

[quatermass2]

"I define the middle class as having sufficient income to pay for all goods and services required to live. That is gardeners, house painters, termiters, maintenance for anything you own, and new cars every 3-4 years."

Sounds more like a Pharoah to me. Slaves and new chariots, eh? What, you don''t have the time or energy to mow your lousy grass, and you get a new car before the old one is paid off? And that''s "middle" class?

The definition of middle class **has** changed from the "Leave It To Beaver" days. Average home sizes have doubled, everyone "has" to have cable, cell phones, high-speed Internet connections, and try to find a car with manual window controls, no air conditioning and a carburetor. The average Joe Sixpack takes vacations in Cancun, Hawaii, and Europe. I don''t think the whole gestalt is being given air here.

[drivelphobe]

geoffgw....I''m old and retired. I just look back with more clarity than I did when I was working. I used to be in the insurance business, a far cry from Wall Street. Have a nice day.

[geoffgw]

Some of this is law of #''s stuff, all the tinkering in the world won''t change it. What is sad is that Wall St "whiz" kids trading with 0.05% commissions on massive deals, make $1M bonuses while the rest of us do real work to produce their play money. By the way, $365K is middle class?? Sounds you work on Wall St!!

[drivelphobe]

jjarden...

I live in the greater Los Angeles area. A $200,000 income, while it sounds good, provides just enough to purchase a home, have a couple of cars and maybe some private health insurance. Costs of a couple of kids, a vacation and emergencies, and you''re out of money. Don''t forget the huge tax bite at this income level. Homes are not under $500,000, and will be considerably more for a livable, middle class neighborhood.

I define the middle class as having sufficient income to pay for all goods and services required to live. That is gardeners, house painters, termiters, maintenance for anything you own, and new cars every 3-4 years. This class should be able to fully fund their retirement, pay for health care coverage and entertain the purchase of a vacation home. They should not be worrying about money at all for necessities.

The middle class should have 3-4 year''s income in liquid savings and a stock portfolio. That is the middle class. What the government wants to promote as middle class, is the largest group of lower income that will believe it. $50,000 per year is insufficient to meet the needs of even a single individual and forces the use of credit. I''ll agree that maybe $200,000 might be the lower end of middle class, but only for those who are prudent, frugal and on pace to improve their lot financially. The $50,000 to $200,000 you cite is just politicians making people feel better.

[creeper00]

"There are three types of lies - lies, *** lies, and statistics." - Variously attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Marshall and Mark Twain

I don''t need to look at statistics to know that we are losing ground. I just have to look at my checkbook.

Are YOU better off now than you were six years ago?

[random_radar]

I don''t care how much the rich earn. I just wish the government would let me keep what little I earn. Taxation is theft from the working man!

[usbrit-2009]

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.....

Written in 1916 by the Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian clergyman and pamphlet writer.

[jjarden]

drivelphobe..."an income of $365,000...is probably the "beginning" of middle-class."?

REALLY? Please exaplain. In America, a Middle Class income is between $50,000 - $200,000.

[samthetvcat]

pt 2 (oops I didn''t finish my thought - lol)

Oh so anyway, the conclusion of the paragraph below is that the top 1% are getting richer and paying more taxes because their making more money, but that the trickle down effect seems to be trickling down to China, India, and the drain of Iraq.

* * * * *

pt 3 Also what''s alarming is how much wealth is being made off hedge funds. Hedge funds aren''t like investments in equity or debt necessarily, they''re more like gambles on the market. People put money down based on their gamble that the value for products and services will either go up or down, and when they''re right they make money. They''re getting rich of the inefficiencies of the market, but aren''t directly adding anything in particular of value to society like a good or service, which is kind of troublesome. It''s kind of like how Halliburton can charge a mint and just not build stuff in the sense that people are getting paid big bucks and their work doesn''t really benefit others (except investors). I''m not sure why they should be getting tax breaks.