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submitted 1 year ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/news@lemmy.world

The top 10% of earners—households making about $250,000 a year or more—are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets.

Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record in data going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%.

The top-level post uses a gift link. When it runs out, there is an archived copy of the article.

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[-] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 96 points 1 year ago

A friendly reminder that articles like this serve to create infighting among the worker class.

Someone earning $250,000 is definitely rich, but they’re nowhere even close to the level of rich that makes wealth distribution problematic. And they’re probably working for that income.

Check out Wealth Shown to Scale (Archive link here because apparently the page is down).

Everyone who isn’t a billionaire ought to be on the same side: against billionaires. But the WSJ publishes stuff like this to make you direct your ire at doctors and lawyers instead of at the people leeching from society.

[-] booly@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago

To expand further on what you're saying, the problem with the linked article's mathematical/statistical analysis is that it uses a slightly more sophisticated version of misleadingly using "average"/mean in a context where median would be more appropriate.

Specifically, they talk about the spending of the top 10% in the aggregate, and point to the threshold of when a household tips into that top decile. Well, that aggregated number is itself heavily skewed towards the higher end of that spectrum, where the people in the 99th percentile are contributing a lot more weight than those in the 90th.

Here are the cutoffs for income thresholds to hit each percentile at or above 90:

90: $235k
91: $246k
92: $260k
93: $275k
94: $295k
95: $316k
96: $348k
97: $391k
98: $461k
99: $632k

Note that this doesn't even get into the 0.5% or 0.1%, which skew things even further. Even without that level of granularity, you can see that the median in this group is about $305k while the mean is closer to $350k.

When you include the billionaires, the difference skews even further.

That's the math error at the center of this thesis. The facts reported might be true, but in a way that groups things together misleadingly.

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 9 points 1 year ago

yup. I will admit though that as you get higher a larger percentage of folks think they are rich and support the wrong side. Had so many docotors complain about taxes and talk conservative politics wise and im like dudes you are just over the top tax bracket. the problem is there should be more brackets that go higher not that the top should be decreased. Heck your bracket can't be decreased till its not the top one.

[-] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

Yep. They’re getting the same propaganda and falling for it too. The entire idea of the “middle class” is to get workers with something to think workers with nothing are the enemy, and get them to ignore the leeches with nearly everything.

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 1 year ago

still amazes me that the brackets end in the low six figure territory when we have billionaires. I remember a supposed quote from the head of the irs back in ww2 times about how his job was to figure out elvises taxes. Like because he was the highest paid guy. Man to have rich folks proud to pay taxes as a patriotic duty. Those were the days.

[-] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Feels like a symptom of the same disease, When the ultra wealthy don't pay taxes and even effectively get negative taxes in the form of massive refunds and bailouts how could anyone else possibly feel proud about paying taxes in such a system. I didn't even make enough to pay tax this past fiscal year but if I had I'd be hard pressed to be proud about it when I know how much of the money is going into the pockets of political cronies rather than actually bettering the country I live in.

[-] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 year ago

Reminded me of this doublespeak class warfare article from November: Rich people are dominating holiday travel - Most hotel guests this season will be people making six-figure incomes, analysts say.

Households earning at least six figures a year are expected to make up the largest share of holiday travelers this season — 45%, up from 38% in 2023, according to a recent survey by the consulting firm Deloitte. And they’re on track to make up a majority of paid lodging customers, expanding their ranks as hotel guests from 43% last season to 52% now.

“Travelers are looking to invest in upgrades and experiences that will make the holiday memorable,” said Kate Ferrara, vice chair for U.S. transportation, hospitality and services at Deloitte.

This was an example of pure psychological warfare to get people to spend more money at hotels. "Well, those 'rich' $100k earners are upgrading their stay, I will to!"

Corpo "news" is such shit.

[-] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

People making 250k are largely on the side of the billionaires. They are reliable votes for the interests of the rich.

[-] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago

Because they are falling for the same propaganda, but on the other side of the coin. Don’t waste your time vilifying them for falling for the same line we all do. It serves no purpose except to make you angry.

[-] michaelmrose@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

But we don't all fall for that

this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
314 points (91.1% liked)

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