Can you be a liberal if you live in a McMansion?

[dazzleman]

i laugh everytime you try to put someone down.

People who go around putting others down are just covering for their own inadequacies.

And to answer the original question, yes, you can be a liberal and live in a McMansion.  It happens all the time.

[dazzleman]

People who go around putting others down are just covering for their own inadequacies.

And to answer the original question, yes, you can be a liberal and live in a McMansion.  It happens all the time.

very true.

i still find it funny that an 'owner' cant gather up enough resources to move his ass out of 'the bad place'.

there is a lot about opebo that doesnt add up.

That's because he's not an owner.  He's no different than a welfare recipient, except that his source of welfare is private rather than public.

He can't wait for his parents to die, so he can inherit their supposedly vast fortune, since now they have him on a very limited income, so limited that he can't even live all year in a 3rd world country without coming home to mooch for several months a year.

My guess is that they don't have half the money he says they do.  And when they die, they'll probably have it tied up, so he's not any better off than he is now.  Or if they're smart, they'll leave it to the Cat Foundation.

SamSpade is a much better example of a person from a wealthy family who has done something constructive with it, and doesn't put down other people who weren't born into that situation.

[dazzleman]

People who go around putting others down are just covering for their own inadequacies.

And to answer the original question, yes, you can be a liberal and live in a McMansion.  It happens all the time.

very true.

i still find it funny that an 'owner' cant gather up enough resources to move his ass out of 'the bad place'.

there is a lot about opebo that doesnt add up.

That's because he's not an owner.  He's no different than a welfare recipient, except that his source of welfare is private rather than public.

He can't wait for his parents to die, so he can inherit their supposedly vast fortune, since now they have him on a very limited income, so limited that he can't even live all year in a 3rd world country without coming home to mooch for several months a year.

My guess is that they don't have half the money he says they do.  And when they die, they'll probably have it tied up, so he's not any better off than he is now.  Or if they're smart, they'll leave it to the Cat Foundation.

SamSpade is a much better example of a person from a wealthy family who has done something constructive with it, and doesn't put down other people who weren't born into that situation.

So, Dazzleman and WalterMitty, you guys ready to support inheritance taxes now and make Opebo work for a living?

We already have inheritance taxes, but they can be successfully evaded by the very rich who set up irrevocable trusts for their heirs while they are still alive.

It is then the upper middle class -- who cannot run the risk of giving up control effectively of large chunks of their money while they are still alive, or who have their wealth tied up in a business -- that end up paying inheritance taxes.

Of course, if anybody could make me support inheritance taxes, it would be opebo.  But rest assured that if his parents are really as rich as he says they are (doubtful), they have already put in place a mechanism that will keep them from paying it.

[dazzleman]

Good lord man, the exemptions are huge - something like several millions at this point I believe.  I know they were one million per parent before Bush's tax cuts began to be implemented.  In any case the old creatures do have hundreds of thousands in life insurance to meet tax bills when they go.

Btw, how does life insurance work? 

It depends on whom the beneficary is.

[dazzleman]

Only a Republican could think that somebody who dies with a couple million dollars of assets is "upper middle class."

It depends what part of the country you're in.  Around here, estates of $1 million + are not unusual if the person worked his/her whole life and owned a home.  Around here, houses alone are often worth around $1 million, and older people have had tremendous appreciation on their homes.

My definition of rich is that your money works for you, and not the other way around.  By that definition, having assets of a couple of million dollars in this section of the country does not make a person rich, but possibly the upper end of upper middle class.

I am trying to make a distinction between the very rich, and those who are simply successful and comfortable, but still had to work their whole lives.

[dazzleman]

First off, $100,000/year in Tennessee is unquestionably upper class. Median income here is about $40,000/year. Yes, there will still be those wealthier than you and yes, there will still be things you want, but can't afford.  However, there's still nothing middle about it!

Second, there are a few isolated places (San Francisco, Manhattan) where one million dollars (an extravagant amount of money) will buy you only humble housing. Nonetheless, you are still extremely wealthy if you can buy that condo on the Upper Wide Side. If you weren't you'd have no choice but to move to New Jersey or the East Bay.  Just because you are surrounded by people who have just as much money as you do does not mean you are not rich.  Even in Manhattan, census has median income at $47,000/year.

Sam Spade, you say that your family lives a "middle class existance" I have not seen your home, where you shop, or where you vacation. Maybe you guys do save the overwhelming majority of your money and live simply. If you do, I applaud you for it, but you are still very "rich" if you exceed the $2 million exemption.

By the way, if your house is bigger than 2000 square feet, you're probably not middle class either.  Just admit you're doing better than the overwhelming majority of Americans. Why is that so hard to admit? You should be happy about it rather than living your life in denial.

memphis, I don't think you really understand what the economic situation is around some of our major coastal cities.

You can't escape the high housing prices in Manhattan by moving to New Jersey.  Prices there are almost as bad.  You have to go two hours outside the city before prices start to moderate.

$100,000 per year may be upper class in Tennessee, but it sure isn't anywhere near here.  I have a 2,400 square foot house in an upper middle class neighborhood, and I could never own it on an income of $100,000 per year, unless I had saved up enough money previously to buy it outright, and had no mortgage.  Even with that, the property taxes are about $9,000 per year, which would be a big chunk of the income.

[dazzleman]

Btw, how does life insurance work? 

It depends on whom the beneficary is.

No I meant does it pay out when you die, regardless of how old you are?  In other words, do you inevitably get the payout?

Yes, the beneficiary inevitably gets the payout as long as the policy has been maintained.

There are two types of life insurance -- term and whole.

Term life has lower premiums in the short run, but you'd have to keep paying them for life in order to collect.  Once you stop paying, the benefit lapses.

Whole life has higher payments for a finite period of time, and then remains in effect with no further payment required until the insured person dies, at which time the beneficiaries are paid.

With whole life, it is also sometimes possible for the insured to tap into while he/she is still alive.