Richistan
"In his entertaining book 'Richistan," Robert Frank of The Wall Street Journal declares that the rich aren't just different from you and me -- they live in a different, parallel country. But that country is divided into levels, and only the inhabitants of upper Richistan live like aristocrats. The inhabitants of middle Richistan lead ample but not gilded lives, and lower Richistanis live in McMansions, drive around in S.U.V.'s, and are likely to think of themselves as 'affluent' rather than rich.
"Even these arguably not-rich, however, live in a different financial universe from that inhabited by ordinary members of the middle class: they have lots of disposable income after paying for the essentials, and they don't lose sleep over expenses, like insurance co-pays and tuition bills, that can seem daunting to many working American families.
"Which brings us to the dispute about tax policy.
"[John] McCain wants to preserve almost all the Bush tax cuts, and add to them by cutting taxes on corporations. Mr. Obama wants to roll back the high-end Bush tax cuts -- the cuts in tax rates on the top two income brackets and the cuts in tax rates on income from dividends and capital gains -- and use some of that money to reduce taxes lower down the scale.
"According to estimates prepared by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, those Obama tax increases would fall overwhelmingly on people with incomes of more than $200,000 a year. Are such people rich? Well, maybe not: some of those Barack Obama proposes taxing are only denizens of lower Richistan, although the really big tax increases would fall on upper Richistan.
"But one thing's for sure: Mr. Obama isn't planning to raise taxes on the middle class, by any reasonable definition -- even that of the Bush administration." -- from Paul Krugman's 8.22 column in the N.Y. Times, called "Now That's Rich."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 22, 2008 at 2:39 PM
comment #1
Sax says ...
Here's a key distinction between upper and lower Rischistan (or between old and new money): Lower Richistan people deeal with the rest of us by pretending to be poor (endlessly complaining about money problems and their 'budgets'); the Upper Richistan people do it by pretending everyone else is just as rich as they are. "You must come to Gstaad with us at Christmas!")
It's hard to decide which is more obnoxious. But the millionaires complaining about the price of gas in their Escalades while they shop for his and hers iPhones could turn Horatio Alger into a Marxist.
Posted by Sax at August 22, 2008 3:10 PM
comment #2
tophertilson says ...
It's the Lower Richistans who seem to have the least understanding of what money means. These are the idiots who spend more than they earn, they yahoos who have to have three cars even though there's only two people of driving age in the house. They're the people who bought the houses they couldn't really afford and who own a great deal of responsibility for this whole mortgage meltdown. I know plenty of people in all three of the Richistan brackets and the LR's are by far the most irritating. Live within your damn means, people.
Posted by tophertilson at August 22, 2008 3:31 PM
comment #3
tophertilson says ...
I don't proof read when I'm angry.
Posted by tophertilson at August 22, 2008 3:32 PM
comment #4
RDP says ...
I would think my family (my father and step-mother. Not so much me since I've been on my own) would fall into the Lower Richistans in terms of living in a McMansion, driving an Escalade and not worrying about everyday expenses.
But my father, while certainly understanding and appreciating the value of a dollar, doesn't complain about not having any money and, while he tends to spend relatively lavishly, doesn't spend more than he earns.
But not having read the book, I don't know where they would fall. At what net worth or annual earnings do you go from being Lower Richistan to Upper Richistan?
Posted by RDP at August 22, 2008 3:43 PM
comment #5
buster says ...
Yes, let me pay more in taxes so that the low-income family who already has cable, a mobile phone, and a wide screen tv can afford Simply Orange instead of Minute Maid. 4/5ths of the world's poor would cut off their right arm to be "poor" in this country.
Hmm, generalizing IS fun.
Posted by buster at August 22, 2008 3:52 PM
comment #6
adorian says ...
How are we, as a nation, going to pay for this war in Iraq if we don't raise taxes?
Posted by adorian at August 22, 2008 4:00 PM
comment #7
Yves says ...
How are we, as a nation, going to pay for this war in Iraq if we don't raise taxes?
Take the oil.
Posted by Yves at August 22, 2008 4:09 PM
comment #8
D.Z. says ...
"Yes, let me pay more in taxes so that the low-income family who already has cable, a mobile phone, and a wide screen tv can afford Simply Orange instead of Minute Maid."
How about insurance and college for their children? But who cares about healthy and experienced workers? That kind of talk is totally communist.
Posted by D.Z. at August 22, 2008 4:41 PM
comment #9
Movie Watcher says ...
If McCain is prez, and he reinstates the draft, go after the rich first. No getting out of it, none of that "I have better things to do" shit that Cheney used to get out of it.
Posted by Movie Watcher at August 22, 2008 4:58 PM
comment #10
Josh Massey says ...
I absolutely think we should tax the hell out of the high earners in this country - you know, everybody's bosses. That won't have any effect on the middle classes - you know, their employees.
Posted by Josh Massey at August 22, 2008 7:16 PM
comment #11
D.Z. says ...
Josh: Well, last time I checked, we have a smaller middle class now with less taxes under Bush than more taxes under Clinton. I guess that's what happens when they have no financial consequences for outsourcing jobs.
Posted by D.Z. at August 22, 2008 10:16 PM
comment #12
astrophore says ...
by all means, buy this book. or take out a home equity loan or what have you.
because we need to understand how the new plutocrats spend their money. why?
if you think they don't deserve it, then go out and do what they do. start your own hedge fund. and then you can buy a gold helicopter for your dog's chef, too.
or maybe you just want to wank it to the descriptions of patek philippes and trips to st. barts. robb report is much better for that. glossier. remember when you were 13 and could jerk off to a brokerage ad in the newspaper? a simple brokerage ad? me neither.
Posted by astrophore at August 23, 2008 8:43 AM
comment #13
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says ...
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