Sounds about right. 30 years ago a millionare meant something. Now a days it isn't shit. You need at least 10-15 million in my mind to be wealthy. Today 1 million is like a $100K 20 years ago. As our $ is devalued and we have hyper inflation because of Uncle Ben we will all be millionares...and it will mean even less.
Exactly, $1 million sounds like a lot, but in reality its not enough to sit back on and retire with......even if you buy a modest house in a modest neighborhood the up keep along will set you back tens of thousands of dollars a year. With Inflation running rampant money will not buy you much today.
I can agree with the overall jist of it, but no way on earth is $1million equal to $100k 20 years ago. Maybe you are only 20 years old, so 20 years ago seems like a "lifetime" but prices aren't so out of control yet that I would go that far. If you said 1970, I'd go with that.
US companies are evading taxes by opening/operating an office in Ireland. But US citizen must pay income tax to US Gov if he is working in Ireland. Insider trading is legal to US Congress members. And insider trading is illegal to US Citizens. How long this hypocrisy will continue?
This is an ignorant statement. Only a small percentage of millionaire households use tax avoidance strategies to be effected by the Buffet rule. http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/13/news/economy/buffett_rule/ However, with that said, people will always try to avoid or evade taxes. Tax avoidance and evasion is as common in middle class households as it is in millionaire households. You cant tell me that every household in America has been honest on their tax forms or that by re-writing the tax code will fix that...the reality is is everyone is going to take advantage of the tax code anyway possible no matter who they are. You can say or do what you want, but it wont stop either tax avoidance or evasion.
well I am moved by these guys. Maybe once they give a significant amount of their wealth to the rest of us struggling we could vote for them for congress and have a real representation. Indeed a good moral action but the problem of wealth in this country is just a little bit more complex. They offer a good start.
by what metric? By inflation adjustment, you get like like 1 million today ~= 600k 20 years ago, or if you use "shadow" inflation of 5% (which i think it's bullshit btw) you get 1 million ~= 380k. If you look by income percentile adjustment, 1 million today is like 790k 20 years ago. By Manhattan real estate prices, 1mm today is about 350k 20 years ago. I just can't get to a 100k