Posted by Dinah on December 11, 2011, at 16:32:53
In reply to Re: The top 1%, posted by Aquarius on December 11, 2011, at 14:14:09
My complaint was that people have inaccurate ideas about who the top 1% is. I saw one comment in our local paper website that there were likely none of the 1% living in Louisiana. I know we're not a wealthy state, but that seemed unlikely. The comment was not only not challenged, but met with general indirect agreement even by those with opposing viewpoints.
I've got no interest in categorizing people by their income, on either end of the spectrum. I think stereotyping is wrong. I likely know and like people in the top 1%. I don't like to see them vilified.
There are things I'd like to see changed. I'd like to see disincentives put in place for outsourcing. I think it's a counterproductive strategy for companies in the long run. I think some CEO salaries are ridiculous. But what can you do about that in a supply/demand situation? I also tend to think the current tax rates are too low. They are much lower now than they were during Reagan's time, and it always annoys me that people invoke Reagan to lower taxes regardless of any common sense whatsoever.
If *any* organization wants to gain my support, they need to be focused on issues, not polarizing groups of people.
By the way, I think I rather like a country where one out of every hundred people can earn upwards of $340,000 annually. I don't earn that myself, nor have I any desire to do what it takes to earn that much, but one out of a hundred doesn't seem all that far out of reach to me. I guess it's a difference of perception. One out of a thousand, or one out of ten thousand might seem like a lot to me. But say the population of the New Orleans area is 1,000,000. If the 1% were spread equally through the country, which I don't think they are, that would mean that ten thousand people in my city made upwards of $340,000. It starts to make the large number of very expensive houses look less unbelievable.
So ob/gyn's make far more on an inflation adjusted basis than they did in the good old days? That seems hard for me to believe with the increased costs of medical practice, and the low reimbursement rates by Medicare and insurance companies. In fact, I'm reasonably sure I've heard doctors complaining that their real income has dropped, and that they'd be happy to have inflation adjusted stasis.
poster:Dinah
thread:1002133
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20110926/msgs/1004705.html