Two items have tickled us this week. One is the fulminating fervor of Harry Reid and assorted other lightweights on both sides of the political aisle about U.S. Olympic uniforms being made in - China! By Ralph Lauren, no less. Reid suggested we burn the lot in a fabric-filled billow of national outrage. It was not clear at whom the outrage was directed. I didn't hear Reid or any of his more threatening colleagues on the raw meat side of the Senate propose a boycott of Ralph Lauren. Nor did I hear a plan to pass legislation that would curtail the transfer of labor to wherever it's cheap. This, of course, would interfere with the free market. It's easier to burn the uniforms.
The second laugh is the outrage from the plutocratic opposition to Mr. Obama's proposal to retain tax breaks for those making under a measly quarter-million a year while asking the ones making over this figure to forego them. Golly gee, you'd think Lenin was taking charge! Maybe we should write a diary combining both stories.
You and I know that $250,000 is not small change for the good old average American. The median family income in the USA is estimated at anywhere from the high 20's (Huff Post) to low 50's (2006 U.S. Census Bureau). That's per year. For argument, let's peg the figure at at a nice, round $50,000. These are folks for whom the Obama tax plan might well come in handy.
On the other hand, let's consider - well, why not Ralph Lauren? Mr. Lauren earns, according to Forbes, more than a million and a half a week. He'd have to forget about the Bush tax break, which might impact his life style severely. After all, how much fuel can a person put into his Rolls when he makes just under $19,500 an hour?
Of course, these figures were computed figuring an 8-hour day for the average man and an 11-hour day for the hard-working executive. I figured Joe Sixpak works a 5-day week while Mr. Lauren slaves six (and that's not counting the days he gains or loses visiting his overseas facories overseeing uniforms).
If you want to look at net worth, the story gets better. Being charitable, let's take the high estimate of CNN Money of $91,000 as the median net worth of the average American. This is the median figure -the amount right in the middle of the bunch.
On that other hand, Ralph Lauren's net worth is around five billion. Dividing Mr. Lauren's nest egg by Joe's reveals it would take about 55,000 of the average American's net worth to match the guy's who owns the companies that makes the uniforms that drive Harry Reid nuts.
There's something about people making $325 a minute bitching about losing a tax break that really pisses me off. Personally, I'm just not going to buy those damn shirts anymore. Maybe Mr. Reid shouldn't, either.