Wealth and class

How do you know if you are rich or poor? It is not subjective. Clear class guidelines actually exist.

Forbes Magazine, for example, ranks the 400 richest Americans every year. And in this year’s special issue, author Dinesh D’Souza helps us figure out where we stand financially, in relation to other Americans.

According to Mr. D’Souza’s article (“The Billionaire Next Door”), you are poor if you earn less than $15,000 a year and have a total net worth close to zero. By this definition, approximately 20 million American households are considered poor.

If you make between $15,000 and $35,000 a year, and have a total net worth of less than $55,000, congratulations, you are a member of the lower middle class. Twenty-nine million American households fall under this category.

At 34 million households, the middle class makes up the largest segment of the U.S. population. To be included in this category, a person must earn between $35,000 and $75,000 a year, with a net worth falling anywhere from $55,000 to $500,000.

To be a member of the upper middle class, you must earn between $75,000 and–now get this–$1 million a year, with free and clear assets ranging from $368,000 (if you are a yuppie) to $5 million (if you are a retired old geezer). According to Forbes Magazine, 17 million American households fall in the upper middle class category.

For most people in the CNMI, $1 million a year plus $5 million in net assets represent considerable wealth. It means you’re rich. Not so under these new Forbes guidelines.

To be considered American “rich,” you must earn between one and ten million dollars a year, with a net worth in the range of $10 million to $100 million.

Now, in order to be considered “super-rich,” you must earn more than $10 million a year, and have net assets exceeding $100 million. These are the people who make up the Forbes 400 list.

Being a mere millionaire is no longer considered “rich.” A million dollars is not enough. According to Forbes, five million American households already have at least $1 million. Over the next ten years, this number is expected to quadruple. By the year 2009, America should have more than 20 million millionaires.

America is a rich country, no doubt the richest in the entire world. And yet federal officials still harass us over our insignificant little garment industry. (significant to us–objectively insignificant to the rich United States of America.)