Workman Says Things

I hate to do it but…

I feel the need to clear up something that seems like common sense but over the comment Romney made concerning “Middle income” which seems to be blowing up in the media, I just have to point a few things out.

I’ll try to keep it simple so hold back on the nit-picking retorts please.

Middle Class Factors = Education, Income, Occupation, Wealth of a person or family. (see also)

Middle Income Factors = Income. It doesn’t matter where you went to school or what you do for a living, where you live or if you own your home. It is about income. Middle income can mean but doesn’t always mean Middle Class. A person in San Francisco making 150k per year not owning a home compared to a person making 150k in Omaha who owns a home can in fact mean different class rank. They are still both Middle Income people though.

Class Ranks: Working class, Lower middle class, Middle class, Upper middle class, & the Wealthy.

As you can see, the majority of Americans will fall into a middle class ranking. Yes. I know. You didn’t think of it like that. Middle doesn’t exactly mean the middle that most people assume. It has 3 segments. Worth note: Obama and Romney both fall into the category of the wealthy. Maybe one more than the other, but neither fall into middle class nor middle income.

President Barack Obama considers the middle income cutoff to be 200k for an individual and 250k for a family.

Mitt Romney considers the middle income cutoff to be 200k for an individual and 250k for a family.

Yes. They have the same numbers for this. That means that anything over 200k/250k as a yearly income would put you above the Upper Middle Income range (which is still “Middle Income”). This is where many journalists have gone wrong by throwing out median income numbers of 50k. We aren’t talking about the mean or median salary of Americans here. We are talking about the top of the Middle Income classification. It is also worth pointing out that in 2006, households making over 250k per year amounted to 1.93% of the U.S. So it is a bit of politicking as well. (I know some of you read that “1.93%” and are thinking that it isn’t possible. It is. Move on.)

I hope this helps. I know it is a simple version which leaves tons of room for armchair economics and political (internet) experts to come in and attempt to save the day. I just wanted to help you a bit in your daily water cooler battle with lunacy. Also, there is no bigfoot, alien abductions aren’t real, Obama was born in Hawaii which was a U.S. state at the time, George Bush wasn’t actually a Nazi and Elvis is dead.