Ed Schultz reminds Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade who was trying to make the best of the fact that most Americans want to see the Bush tax cuts expire, that most Americans don't make anywhere near $250,000 a year. As Ed noted only 2% of households make over $250,000 a year and the median household income in 2008 was $52,029.
Brian Kilmeade isn't the only one I've heard doing this. This might be one to start taking note of for a video mash up because I've heard a whole lot of them in the media use the phrase "the so called rich". Chris Wallace comes to mind on this past weekend's Fox News Sunday. When the middle class is getting hammered and seeing their wages stay stagnant while the rich get richer, I'd say there's a good case to be made that it's not unfair to call those making over $250 grand a year rich. They might not be uber-multi-millionaire-rich where they could live off of their investments and no longer have to work for a living, but anyone making that much is doing pretty well and maybe you might not describe those that make that much as "rich", but they're definitely wealthy. Whatever you want to call it, they're doing a hell of a lot better than most of the country.
And if you're making that much a year you can afford for your taxes on your income over the $250,000 household threshold go up a little. Speaking of which, that's another thing I get tired of while hearing these guys cry about how those tax cuts expiring are going to harm the ones right on the edge so badly. They act like the higher rates are going to affect their entire income. If you made $250,100 for the year after your deductions, the only part of your income that's going to be affected by the higher rate is that last $100, not all of it.
Someone needs to explain the concept of tax brackets to these clowns and the media needs to quit allowing any of them who are confusing the public about just how much more a year anyone that's just above the $200,000 a year individual income of $250,000 a year household income would actually see their taxes rise if the Obama administration's proposals end up being enacted.
