I've seen some opinions lately, highly recommended opinions, that vilify the top 10% (those making over $140,000 a year) just as much as those making in the top 0.01% (those making over $10 million a year)
One of the general points I've seen in this issue tends to be that any sign that you currently aren't living a hard life is an indictment that you're part of out-of-touch snobby elite just as much as Romney donors in the top 0.01%
That style of argument is taken directly from right wing arguments against any welfare spending. Where any sign of comfort is a sign that the American poor are actually out of touch and comparatively wealthy citizens of the world that don't need any assistance.
There are two questions this diary asked:
1) How rich really are those families in American making $140,000 a year?
2) Does pointing to several comforts to win an argument logically fit with modern liberalism's support of a large welfare state in America?
1) How rich is $140,000 a year?
For this example I'm using several tools:
PayCheckCity
http://www.paycheckcity.com/...
TurboTax Tax Caster
https://turbotax.intuit.com/...
NY Times How Rich are You?
http://www.nytimes.com/...
I'm also using a real world example of a single mother (of two) attorney in southern New Jersey I know (southern New Jersey is much cheaper than northern New Jersey)
With a lot of tax deductions for her mortgage, child care, state taxes, etc with $140,000 she has $7666 a month after taxes and one tax-deferred retirement account (such as a 403b)
How does that $7666 a month go? Multiple BMWs? A condo on the beach? Private tutors? Trips to Europe? No...none of that:
$1700 a month in student loans (will not be paid off this decade)
$800 x 2 ($1600) a month daycare (Not one filled with spoiled rich white kids, but a regular daycare that is economically and racially diverse with the kids playing with crayons and toys while a staff member tries to make sure the kids aren't hurt)
$1100 30 year mortgage on a modest 1600 square foot three bedroom house
$700 property taxes and home owners insurance
$400 monthly lease costs for a Chevy Impala (ooh a chevy!)
$500 a month groceries (mostly crock pot recipes because of the ease factor)
$250 employer-provided healthcare premium
$200 gas
$250 utilities (average water/sewer/heat/power)
$100 cell phone
$100 car insurance
$100 basic Comcast internet and television package
That leaves approximately $600 a month left over for all other expenses, child clothes, personal clothes, health care deductible, air travel to see relatives, health care deductible, any child activities, etc. Both her kids are going to go to public school, in a school district that is near the bottom of the state-wide rankings.
Almost all of these involve living a solidly middle class lifestyle. The exceptions being the one 403b retirement account being fully utilized (She could have another $13,000 a year if she saved 0 for retirement)...and possibly the leased car that she insists on because of past experiences being ripped off by mechanics with repairing used cars out of warranty...but it's one Chevy, not a BMW.
Is it a nice lifestyle? Yes. Is it obscenely wealthy? No. Does it make her out of touch with middle class America? No
If you constantly push as hard as you can to try and indict someone for having something the average don't have, you are just repeating the same problem the right wing has when it points out how much better America's poor have it than the average person in struggling countries.
2) Does pointing to several comforts to win an argument logically fit with modern liberalism's support of a large welfare state in America?
Much of the world lives in tiny unstable structures without much of modern day technology, let alone modern day luxuries such as air conditioning.
If you were to tell them they were about to switch places and now receive a full set of kitchen appliances, a ten year old somewhat reliable personal car, home entertainment system, air conditioned bedroom, and personal computer with internet service, and a food stipend for their entire family that is several times their annual budget, they would be convinced they won a mega-lottery and were about to become super-rich. But according to US census house survey, that is what most American families under the poverty line have.
Should we focus on how comparatively wealthy the American poor are and end food stamps, HUD funding, TANF? We could send all that money to those with much much less.
Are all the American poor just plain greedy?
No, because you're ignoring the entire context, such as rising standards of living, how a country needs to combat internal income inequality to provide stability, and how selectively focusing on some monetary comparisons gives an inadequate picture for how they lead their daily lives and how they are going to give their children a solid upbringing.
You can't use the standard of: "Oh those people can't complain because I would LOVE to have their problems" because much of the world would love to have your problems, yet do you want to be forbidden from advocating for yourself?
I see some people writing "Oh how sad these rich people feel offended, they need to know what it's like" as they were enslaved hobbits being forced to work in the mines by Sauron-the-top-10%er.
It's so odd because an actual miner, such as an Indonesian sulfur miner, would say you (and everyone else on this site) knows nothing of hard work nor of what it is like to struggle.
Final Point:
It is inconsistent to make screeds against those with above average incomes having several moderate luxuries while advocating for citizens that enjoy many many modern luxuries over the world's poor.
Can you make a reasonable budget close to American middle class standards using income from the top 10%? Yes
Can you do anything like that with someone making $10 million a year? No it's impossible
It's obvious where the dividing lines should be...don't copy and paste right-wing debate tips that takes modern day luxuries out of context in order to score cheap political points.