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<p>So much for splitting the marital assets down the middle. This lady got only a pittance of her husband’s assets. Wonder if she feels poor.</p>
<p><a href=“Harold Hamm to Pay One of the Biggest Divorce Settlements in History - The New York Times”>Harold Hamm to Pay One of the Biggest Divorce Settlements in History - The New York Times;
<p>Here’s one definition of rich/wealthy: </p>
<p>Subscribers to Dujour, a luxury lifestyle magazine, must meet at least 5 of 7 criteria: a net worth of $5 million, a house worth over $1.5 million, average annual income over $250,000, liquid assets of $1 million, online annual expenditures of at least $10,000, off-line annual expenditures of at least $100,000 and annual philanthropic donations of at least $10,000.</p>
<p>I cannot be a subscriber. And I don’t want to be.</p>
<p>^They are selling exclusivity not contents. A symptom of a sick society if you ask me.</p>
<p>they are doing it for the advertisers. They can assure their high end ad buyers that the audience can afford their product. It’s not that they are trying to be “exclusive” from the others, just that they want to be able to charge for the ads.</p>
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Surely, whether you feel rich or not has something to do with context. My opinion is that a person should realize that he is rich if, in comparison with most people on this planet, he is living a life of unimaginable luxury. So, I think most Americans are rich.</p>
<p>I remember back in the 80’s during the height of the Cold War the Soviet Union was running propaganda news about poverty in America. It was reported to have backfired because Soviet citizens wanted to know why all the poor Americans had microwave ovens, colored tv’s and cars and even most of the Soviet “middleclass” had no chance of having any of these items.</p>
<p>And now, even Russia has less income inequality than the US. Times change.</p>
<p>We have to draw a boundary somewhere and not include the entire world in discussing rich/poor. We don’t pay World tax. We can’t do much for the world. We do pay Federal tax and coming to terms what rich/poor means in this country and who should get the public help may have consequences.</p>
<p>@Nrdsb4 I’m extremely well acquainted with a member of that family. She knows she’s wealthy. </p>
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Why? Why would we want to promote the fantasy that people who own cars, who have running water and electricity, who have plenty to eat, who have TV sets and single family homes, are not rich? We live in a very rich country.</p>
<p>Sure, Hunt, and I think we all know that. Though there are many other countries where people are quite prosperous. I’ll make sure and remind my bus driver today (usually single mothers working 2-3 jobs) that compared to most other people in the world, she’s rich. I’m sure she’ll appreciate some judgmental lecturing.</p>
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<p>I gave the reason in my post. Each country is a financially independent entity. We don’t pay World tax. We pay Federal tax. We discuss who gets a tax break in the country we pay the tax to. </p>
<p>Why bring up poor people in another country? How about bringing up rich people in another country? $200K/yr may be far better off than even the richest in some countries. Instead of lecturing to the poor compared to the poor in another country they are doing well, may we tell $200K-ers that they are equal to wearing a royal crown in another country and stop complaining and do their share.</p>
<p>If everyone in the US (and most of the rest of the first world) is rich, then there’s no point to this discussion since there’s no distinctions to be made. We might as well all congratulate each other on still having all our limbs.</p>
<p>Back to the original question of why people with income over $XX don’t “feel” rich, I think it’s because our society has grown so expert over the past few decades at coaxing our money out of us for consumer goods. We have moved from an economy that expects to grow itself through manufacturing or trade, into an economy that expects to grow itself through selling itself consumer goods. Why are we constantly hearing on the news how the economy must be getting better because consumer spending is up? So in order to grow the economy and create jobs so that we can get hired somewhere, we have to buy stuff. And I’m not just talking about physical merchandise. My husband and I don’t buy very many physical items at all (except books) but we sure eat out a lot, so we’re pumping money into the restaurant sector. I’m sure we’d feel a lot richer if we didn’t indulge ourselves with a nice meal (in the $50-100 range, not the $900 range, before anyone asks) every weekend and lunches out during the workday. </p>
<p>And this is a change from how things used to be. My parents hardly ever had dinner out; it just wasn’t part of their world view. Just like how it used to be standard practice for families to take long road trips and stay in KOA campgrounds for family vacations, but now they fly to their destinations and stay in hotels. Our parents didn’t have $600 iPhones to replace every few years. Yes, it’s a choice to do all these things, but my point is that the mere availability of these kinds of spending opportunities means that some people at least are going to take advantage of them – when they’re not even on your radar screen, the chance you’ll spend money on them is zero.</p>
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Clearly, people don’t like to have this pointed out to them, even if they’re making a lot more money than a bus driver. But it seems to me that the people who need the lecture are not the bus drivers; rather, they are the people who don’t feel rich despite having above average wealth in a very wealthy country. To put it more bluntly, people with above average wealth in the United States who don’t feel rich have been duped by advertising.</p>
<p>Is feeling rich the same as being happy? Yes or no and why.</p>
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<p>Didn’t realize that (presumably something that a finance lobbyist got put into a tax law change somewhere). Another reason to eliminate the special lower rate for “long term” capital gains. In any case, futures should be treated as any other security that can be traded.</p>
<p>@"Deborah T"
I grew up poor. Also my father was paralyzed when I was in 2nd grade. I can tell you that it’s hard to be happy when you see your mother worrying what’s for dinner because she’s broke.</p>
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<p>Also, the minimum spending is also an attempt to ensure that the subscribers actually do spend their money in amounts worthwhile for the advertisers.</p>