3 ms·

Just for reference, being in the "top 1%" in the US means about $300k income and/or $3m net worth at age 40. That's not "buy a politician" rich, but it is also

Just for reference, being in the "top 1%" in the US means about $300k income and/or $3m net worth at age 40. That's not "buy a politician" rich, but it is also not the average professional or small business owner.

hcnews 9y ago
$300k per year income is pretty common for 5 years experience in silicon valley including stock grants these days.
- c0nducktr 9y ago
  There's a lot more to America than Silicon Valley. Whatever the average SV wages are, they're outliers when compared to average wages across the county.
  - watwut 9y ago
    And everyone here complains about it being hard to pay housing instead of bragging how great everyone is. If th norm in SV would be so great, I would expect them to.complain less.
    - c0nducktr 9y ago
      My point is that SV is atypical, so statements about 'how it is in SV' aren't really relevant when talking about the US as a whole.
- mortenjorck 9y ago
  Which is just about enough to pay for a standard of living comparable to what you can afford on $85k/year in nearly the entire rest of the country.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  It is common for a very small portion at the very top of a job that already pays more than most jobs. The BLS, which uses reliable statistical methods to estimate wage information for occupations, found that only 10% of software developers make more than $157,590[1]. [1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151132.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151132.htm
basementcat 9y ago
I would argue that having $3MM net worth is more than enough to "buy" one or more (local) politicians for an election cycle or two in many parts of the USA. https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections,_2016 https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections,_2016 https://ballotpedia.org/Money_in_local_elections_(2016) https://ballotpedia.org/Money_in_local_elections_(2016)

3 ms·

Just for reference, being in the "top 1%" in the US means about $300k income and/or $3m net worth at age 40. That's not "buy a politician" rich, but it is also

by username223 9y ago

hcnews 9y ago
$300k per year income is pretty common for 5 years experience in silicon valley including stock grants these days.
- c0nducktr 9y ago
  There's a lot more to America than Silicon Valley. Whatever the average SV wages are, they're outliers when compared to average wages across the county.
  - watwut 9y ago
    And everyone here complains about it being hard to pay housing instead of bragging how great everyone is. If th norm in SV would be so great, I would expect them to.complain less.
    - c0nducktr 9y ago
      My point is that SV is atypical, so statements about 'how it is in SV' aren't really relevant when talking about the US as a whole.
- mortenjorck 9y ago
  Which is just about enough to pay for a standard of living comparable to what you can afford on $85k/year in nearly the entire rest of the country.
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  It is common for a very small portion at the very top of a job that already pays more than most jobs. The BLS, which uses reliable statistical methods to estimate wage information for occupations, found that only 10% of software developers make more than $157,590[1]. [1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151132.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151132.htm
basementcat 9y ago
I would argue that having $3MM net worth is more than enough to "buy" one or more (local) politicians for an election cycle or two in many parts of the USA. https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections,_2016 https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections,_2016 https://ballotpedia.org/Money_in_local_elections_(2016) https://ballotpedia.org/Money_in_local_elections_(2016)