5 ms·

I'm having trouble believing that figure. I read the article, not the study, so shame on me for that. 11% of Americans will make, at some point, over $300k per

by edot 5y ago

I'm having trouble believing that figure. I read the article, not the study, so shame on me for that. 11% of Americans will make, at some point, over $300k per year? That is an obscene amount of money. I cannot believe that 1 in 10 people will make that much in a year for at least one year in their life times. Maybe amongst computer science grads from good schools, where 1 in 10 gets into a FAANG, but amongst the general populace?

Joeboy 5y ago
I guess having a high "yearly income" in one year includes things like inheritances and house sales, which would make it more believable.
lozenge 5y ago
Keep in mind this is from the Cato Institute and similar. "People feel it's a fixed club and no one else can get in, but that's not the case," said Mark Perry, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Once you get there, it's not easy to stay there." Hmm, the figures show that 1.1% of the population get to spend 10 years in the top 1% of income, while another 2.2% only spend 5-9 years there and another 11.1% spend 1-4 years there. It's easy to "stay there" for some... The flipside is, a higher income tax would affect 11.1% of people just a few years (times), and 1.1% of people would be affected many more years (times).
dragonwriter 5y ago
> 11% of Americans will make, at some point, over $300k per year? That is an obscene amount of money. I cannot believe that 1 in 10 people will make that much in a year for at least one year in their life times. I can. Especially if the period the stats were collected over includes the period around and immediately following the Great Recession. Why? (1) People work in fields with irregular income; a book might take years to write, but most of the income for it may be received in a much shorter window. (2) Lots of things (lots of them misfortune) produce income spikes besides work with irregular returns. Short sell a house for $200,000 less than the mortgage balance, with the rest forgiven by lender? That's $200,000 in income that year. Forced to liquidate your tax-deferred retirement savings early to pay for unexpected (say, medical) expense? Again, big one-time income spike. Of course, this doesn't mean what writers from a right-wing propaganda mill want to make it mean.
lbotos 5y ago
- Real estate agents with a busy year vs. a bust year - Sales with the same - House Sales for owners - Employees at public companies with RSU cliffs - Business sales for entrepreneurs - Employees at startups that have IPO'd My understanding is a lot of Americans live on the coasts, and the coasts can have high salaries and costs of living (house prices). I do think it's likely that 1 in 10 people could have a very good year once.

by edot 5y ago

Joeboy 5y ago

I guess having a high "yearly income" in one year includes things like inheritances and house sales, which would make it more believable.

lozenge 5y ago

Keep in mind this is from the Cato Institute and similar. "People feel it's a fixed club and no one else can get in, but that's not the case," said Mark Perry, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Once you get there, it's not easy to stay there." Hmm, the figures show that 1.1% of the population get to spend 10 years in the top 1% of income, while another 2.2% only spend 5-9 years there and another 11.1% spend 1-4 years there. It's easy to "stay there" for some... The flipside is, a higher income tax would affect 11.1% of people just a few years (times), and 1.1% of people would be affected many more years (times).

dragonwriter 5y ago

> 11% of Americans will make, at some point, over $300k per year? That is an obscene amount of money. I cannot believe that 1 in 10 people will make that much in a year for at least one year in their life times. I can. Especially if the period the stats were collected over includes the period around and immediately following the Great Recession. Why? (1) People work in fields with irregular income; a book might take years to write, but most of the income for it may be received in a much shorter window. (2) Lots of things (lots of them misfortune) produce income spikes besides work with irregular returns. Short sell a house for $200,000 less than the mortgage balance, with the rest forgiven by lender? That's $200,000 in income that year. Forced to liquidate your tax-deferred retirement savings early to pay for unexpected (say, medical) expense? Again, big one-time income spike. Of course, this doesn't mean what writers from a right-wing propaganda mill want to make it mean.

lbotos 5y ago

- Real estate agents with a busy year vs. a bust year - Sales with the same - House Sales for owners - Employees at public companies with RSU cliffs - Business sales for entrepreneurs - Employees at startups that have IPO'd My understanding is a lot of Americans live on the coasts, and the coasts can have high salaries and costs of living (house prices). I do think it's likely that 1 in 10 people could have a very good year once.