The 1% is the upper middle class
Errr... how much income do you think makes you 1%? Hint: it's $150k/yr. That's not "upper middle class". I understand that there are a lot of people here that might make that, close to it, or more because software is very lucrative, but don't let that skew your perception of the world.
Where's your $150k coming from? The figure I usually hear cited is $350k, though that's for "household income". Adding to your main point though, it's also worth pointing out that $150k in, say, downtown New York is pretty different from $150k in, say, Cheyenne, Wyoming. But I'd still call both "upper-middle class." Maybe it's near the lower-fuzzy-boundary of "upper middle class", but I don't see how you think it's a classic "middle class" salary. It's certainly not an "upper class" salary.
These numbers all come from the IRS. $150k around the top 1% for single/separate filers. $350k is married filers.
According to the IRS the top 1% overall is $318k, according to the CBO it's $282k.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/SOI-Tax-Stats---Individual-Statistica...
Re:The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent
by randomdata on Sunday October 14, 2012 @06:47AM
(#4651178)
$190K is the number for that I've always heard thrown around for individuals, which, if both parties in the household are earning that much, easily adds up to $350K and more.
I just want to thank the author for separating the 1% form the 0.01% The 1% is the upper middle class, the actual "American Dream" fulfillers, and they are getting a lot of heat that was deftly deflected away from the 0.1% and upper echelons of aristocracy, because most reporters are too lazy to think about logarithms.