Feeling the Squeeze, Is Either Potential VP REALLY Like the Average Joe?

You know I read an article the other day on msn called A vice president like the rest of us. The premise of the article is that since each of them would be the "poorest vice president in recent memory" that they would understand what the average American is going through. At the time, the idea seemed a bit off to me. So, I did a bit of digging yesterday evening. My thought was that while they might not approach the super-wealth we're seeing among Presidential nominees, the rest of country would consider them rich. I wanted to see if I'm right. Oh... and I am. :)

In my digging, I first wondered, how do their annual family incomes compare to the national average. So, I looked about a bit and found that America's national median household income is $50,233 (Wikipedia). In addition, 80% of households make $100,000 or less (Can't find the reference on this one, why didn't I write it down?). So, Palin's $125,000 combined with Todd's $125,000 gives them a household income of $250,000 in salaries alone. So, you tell me, would someone making $250,000 per year REALLY understand the issues facing someone making $50,000 per year? Really? Now, being bipartisan here, Biden earned $300,000 (working two jobs it appears), so he's in no better shape (Both numbers from the article referenced at the top). I've lived the difference between $50,000 combined income and $200,000. I assure you there's a huge difference in your approach to things as simple as grocery shopping. At $50,000 you clip coupons, buy generic, and definitely notice when milk goes up by a nickle a gallon. At $200,000 those things just don't impact your budget nearly as much.

But, I though being fair, I should another measure to see how much "like the rest of us" they are. So, I went to look at the national median net worth. It's $86,000. For those who may not know this term, it refers to the value of ALL of your assets minus your liabilities (so your house is included as it's full value minus the amount you owe). So, the average American household net worth is less than these guys make in a single year. It's less than half. Bt what is their net worth? I'm glad you asked.

Biden's assets are hard to pin down because of the reporting requirements, but the article at the top lists his retirements accounts as being between $65,000-366,000. That's an awfully big range. At the top end, he's far above most Americans and at the bottom he's a bit lower than the national average. Palin comes in at $381,405. Far above most of the nation.

But where does that place them? With all the talk about their being middle class, how does this really stack up? Of course, perception is king as there's no actual formal definition of middle class. So, what does American perception say? 77% of a recent msn live poll say 100,000 or less in income falls in the middle class. In a NY Times survey, 29% of people said earning between 100-200K is rich. In addition to these surveys, I read an interesting article by MP Dunleavy called Just How Rich Is Rich? In it she says:

"...there's an amazing variation in dollar amounts that people attach to that four-letter word.
Those who earned less than $30,000 thought that a household income of $74,000 would qualify as rich.

Those who made $30,000 to $50,000 said an income of $100,000 would be rich.

And people in the top half of earners were more likely to say that an income of $200,000 earns you the right to the R word.

So the less money you have, the less money you think you'll need to become rich. And the wealthier you are, I suspect, the more money it takes to make you feel rich."

And yet at all levels according to Dunleavy, both candidates would be rich. So, the bottom line for me is that neither of the candidates is average, middle class, or whatever other term you might want to use. They live well. That's not a negative, it just makes them less "Joe Six-Pack" or Sally Super-Saver (my own term this one) than the media seems to want to portray them. When we see a candidate for the office who knows what a gallon of milk costs and battles over whether they should risk the lights or the water getting cut off this month I'll rejoice about a Vice President like the "rest of us". Because while I personally may share more in common with these two, I recognize that MOST Americans don't. The wealth divide is still staggering and we need to simply admit that those who attain high political office will rarely understand the plight of the common guy. And, when any candidate talks about "helping the middle class", I had to teach El 3atal early on that, no matter what party, they're in they're NEVER talking about us... :)

Happy Pseudo-Class Consciousness!