19 Replies to “Guess What $34K/year Makes You?”

  1. The data was based on “2005”, when U.S. housing prices were soaring above all reason, and their economy was at an all-time high.
    I bet that fewer Americans fall into that category now.
    Not to mention that, the study only covers *income*. Meaning that, people with lots of property or possessions but not a lot of income, are heavily discounted.
    Then there’s the fact that in many countries the cost of living is relatively cheap compared to the U.S., due either to subsidization, currency imbalances, or other factors. So this study reflects the value of paper money, and not the real cost of goods.
    An interesting piece, but it doesn’t represent reality.

  4. “What does it mean?”
    Does it mean that when poor people are protesting on twitter, through their iPhones, no one really cares?

  5. Most folk I associate with seem to worry more about falling through a crack in the treadmill that maintains their 1% lifestyle than to sit back and marvel at the fact that they are lucky enough to be in that 1%. Even welfare would only drop them to 2% but for some reason they worry about that.

  8. Consider that the “poor” in North America have a house or apartment, appliances, access to schools, medicines and affordable food, things people in truly impoverished nations do not have. If making $34,000 a year means one is a part of the mythical 1%, that number should have exploded by now. Way to re-draw the lines there, Cafferty.

  9. We as Canadians pay some of our fellow citizens to do nothing other then be. Think about that…We don’t require that they contribute to the greater good in any way, we just pay them to…be.
    Can someone explain how this is a sustainable strategy?

  10. @ syncrodox
    If we keep them well fed and times REALLY get hard,… they will taste better. Sustainable strategy.

  12. Osumashi – you forgot the big-screen TV. In north america people stay poor through their own poor choices. In the rest of the world, not so much. (I’ve been in every “class” of society from “destitute” through “upper-middle” and hope to break into the ranks of the “rich” within 10 years. My decisions have lead to an improved life, and have meant that my cousin who doesn’t has trouble keeping a job has had a bigger TV than me for most of my life. Why? Because he thought it was a necessity, I thought it was secondary so I didn’t put myself into debt to get one.)

  13. Another lost leader MSM distraction piece. 87% of the world’s wealth is held by 16 family interests and only a couple of these are Ameican.
    This 1% concept is a new cultual Marxist meme designed to focus the attention of the quicky vanishing middle class on affuent Americans who made a couple of bucks in the new service economy when in fact, the fastest growing segment of billionaies are communists connected to the IMF. Now don’t that rock yer world – rich money grubbing commies? Oximoron or the new mercantilism monopoly?

  14. Didn’t they just raise the pverty level to $34K? I’m really confused….too many numbers…blowin’ in the wind….winds of change…global warming…sorry, I didn’t mean to rant. I didn’t sleep well last nite, worrying about the 1%. Yoi!

  15. The Liberal left considers families who get free housing and 74K per year in government welfare in Northern Ontario poor.
    Why are we comparing someone living in Calgary to someone living in the middle of China, or Bangladesh anyway?
    The fact is that anything they own or have to use at their disposal that is at all modern (out of the stone, bronze, copper & Iron age in the case of China) is a western European/North American invention.
    They should be happy with what we’ve done for them and move on, instead of belly aching for more handouts and trying to colonize our countries.

  16. People also neglect to point out that “our poor” have access to things like free health care, old age security, police and court services, and a multitude of government sponsored programs for learning, tuitions & grants, job searching tools, daycares, women’s shelters, housing allowances, and renters protections, etcetera, etcetera………
    What price do you put onto these things that other people work to pay for on your behalf?
    Thankless ingrates.

  17. In North America our poor are also mostly obese, making it difficult for them to storm the ramparts as they are waddling between fast food outlets.

  18. “What does it mean when Americans make up half of the world’s richest 1%?”
    It means several things. It means on average Americans work longer and more productively every day than anybody else on earth. It means Americans are still more educated and think up more and better new stuff. It means Americans can still keep more of what they earn and invest it than anywhere else. It means that income is still distributed MORE equitably in the USA than anywhere else. It means the Rule of Law has prevented a few oligarchs from stealing all the resources of the country for themselves.
    This despite the best efforts of the DemocRat Party and their CNN henchmen. TEA PARTY!!!

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