Income Distribution Fun Facts
Mark Kleiman says “If you had made last year as much money as John McCain spent on household help alone $273,000 — you’d be richer than 95% of American families.”
As I’ve said before, I’m not sure percentiles are the best way of expressing this kind of information. Rather, I think the main fact is that the median household income in the United States is $48,201 per year, meaning that McCain spent over five times as much on servants as the typical household earns in an entire year. On the other hand, McCain’s relatively lavish household staff expenditures probably explains why he sees tax cuts for high-income individuals as a sound job-creation strategy — perhaps he wouldn’t be able to afford nearly as many if he had to groan under the oppressive yoke of Clinton-era top income tax rates.
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43 Responses to “Income Distribution Fun Facts”
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August 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
“Median” just means 50th percentile. Maybe it’s easier for people to understand the half and half of the 50th percentile though?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
So he spends $273,000 on household help. I would really love to know how much he spends per person - sweatshop, anyone?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
How can we know how much he spent on household help when we don’t even know how many houses he has?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
it’s a google!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I wonder if the reason his spending on household staff has increased so much over the last couple of years is a shift to legal workers?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Well I’m making $50 an hour picking lettuce for him so I’m above median I guess.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
stuck in 200: excellent thought!
dude, i’ve been thinking about the same thing: if, after all, he’s paying them $35K/year, then he only has 8 staff members for all those houses - it doesn’t really add up!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Call me crazy, but I think $273,000 is a relatively low budget for help when you have that many houses with extensive land. Maybe he has outside gardeners and cleaners, but I’m thinking that such a low budget might lead somewhere, like maybe he pays below minimum wage because, I don’t know, the staff is illegal?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
stuck in 200: excellent!
dude: i’ve been thinking roughly the same thing. if he’s paying them $35K/year, that’s still on 8 staff members for all those houses: it doesn’t add up!
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
The next logical questions should be….Does mccain provide health care insurance for his employees?….Does mccain have a retirement plan for employee or can they participate in a 401 plan that is part of cindy’s empire?….Do these people have paid vacation????…Has mccain ever considered out sourcing the maintenace of his properties to the private sector????
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I’d like to see the job titles of these folks, too. Maid and/or cleaner i’d expect.
But what about valet? Gentleman’s gentleman? Butler? Gamekeeper? Chambermaid? Scullery mad? Manservant?
Groom of the stool?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
GOTS for short?
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm
those personal food chewers aren’t cheap.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
tony rezko
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
How many of MCain’s household stuff are immigrants? Any that may be illegal immigrants? How much is he paying in SS? Is he paying SS? Anyone wants to ask?
____________________________________________
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Does this number include Cindy’s traveling hair dresser? Or is that not a household expense but rather a campaign expense?
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
You all sound poor.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Not me Peter I’ve been picking lettuce for years
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
John “Imelda” McCain
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I have no clue, but it could be that Cindy’s corporations pay for the lion’s share of the help & upkeep - as they bough many of the homes.
<>
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
You should try picking arugula, I hear it pays more.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Just think if the big political issue of 1960 was how much JFK paid his valet. Nixon would have won the election that year, and Kennedy may still be alive today
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Is he paying taxes on the “help”? Sounds like something to investigate, IMHO.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
If we’re going to launch a meme here, let’s make it “servants”, not “household staff”.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Class warfare will be the death of the Democratic party.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Tristan wrote: “Class warfare will be the death of the Democratic party.”
Funny that the republicans running against “elitists” every four years–which is explicitly a class-based appeal–hasn’t been the death of the Republican party.
I doubt that pointing out that McCain is super-elite will kill much of anything other than his image and campaign strategy,
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
“Class warfare will be the death of the Democratic party.”
LOL! Leave McCain ALOOOOONE!!! WAAAAAAAH!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
SOMEONE IN THE PRESS PLEASE INVESTIGATE:
a) the exact wages, benefits, etc., being paid to household staff, and also try and track down former staff to see how they are treated
b) a la the Lance Armstrong water story, how much money are they paying in utilities and how much water, power, etc., are they consuming? Add to that how much Colorado River/California water the Arizona beer bottling company is using.
c) get the info on the McCain private jet and figure out the carbon footprint for trips since, say, Sept. 11, 2001.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
It’s “class warfare” is when Democrats talk about it. When Republicans talk about it it’s “straight talk”…
And by the way, McCain is a POW.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Next question is to ask him how many people he employs on the household staff. He won’t even know that. Then yes, the health care for them, etc.
This could get interesting…
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Uh, McCain is not paying for the household help–Cindy McCain is paying them. She’s got the humongous bucks; she buys the extra condo for the kids; he’s along for the ride, cushy as it is.
But, seriously, if you didn’t like John Kerry’s financial relationship with his wife made a campaign issue, you now like this?
Okaaaaay. Me, I hated the Repubs for implying or saying outright that any Dem with money, whether earned in an up-by-the-bootstraps manner or inherited or married into, was somehow incapable of representing the needs of the poor and middle class–but any Dem without money was a pig at the government trough. I don’t like seeing the Dem Standard Bearer, and not some supporter or somewhat removed spokesperson, using this Repub attack.
But that’s just me.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:29 pm
“Class warfare will be the death of the Democratic party.”
Which is why every four years the Repubs try to paint the Dem candidate as an effete elitist who can’t relate to ordinary ‘mericans, not like their brush-clearing, pork-rind eating, man of the people.
“Unopposed class warfare by Republicans will be the death of the Democratic party.”
fixed it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Yes. Somebody in the press - you know who you are - please, PLEASE find out the carbon footprint of McCain’s wife’s jet. The future of the planet is at stake!
what a maroon.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Folks —
Bear in mind that all but one of their properties are high-service luxury condo facilities, so that most of the staff to maintain those places would be employed by the various condo associations and not the McCains. The cost of guards, pool staff, door staff, maintenance, even maid service would either be passed along to the residents as “common charges” or billed as services.
In other words, most of the staffing costs for keeping up the condo residences would never show up on an accounting of “household staff.”
It would be interesting to find out what actually goes into that $273K — but the bottom line is that this figure likely disguises as much as it reveals.
My bet is that most of this is spent at the Sedona Ranch alone, but that’s just a guess…
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Vote Republican - get a gardner a job!
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
What makes you think mean income is a meaningful gauge of financial well-being? Because it doesn’t take into account all kinds of variables - family size and regional cost-of-living differences, to name two - it’s hardly a “typical” household income (if indeed there is such a thing as a typical household). Per-capita GDP has its limitations, too, but it’s a better metric than mean income.
The best metric of all would be a basic cost-of-living number - food, housing, utilities, clothing, transportation, baseline healthcare (x number of G.P. visits per person) - that’s regionally adjusted, and against which incomes can be measured.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:11 pm
You know, I don’t think you need medians or percentiles to make the point. I mean, everyone knows how much money $273,000 is. It’s more money than they make in a year.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
How many servants does he have? I’m kind of interested in how well/poorly they’re paid…
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Class warfare will be the death of the Democratic party.
It would be such a shame if all the middle class people in the country realized how much the Republicans screw them over every chance they get.
August 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
You wanna talk about class warfare? How about inflation? The rich bankers are stealing from my savings using inflation (creating money as credit at interest), driving down the value of the dollars I earned in the past.
I hate to break it to you, but class warfare is already real. Anyone who is whining “this is class warfare” apparently gets offended when someone they punched decides to punch them back.
When a predatory lender encourages a middle class family to move into a house they cannot afford, they not only get that family’s money, but they get the home once foreclosure sets in, too.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:54 pm
So, how much lettuce can McCain’s staff pick if he pays them $50/hour?
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Thank you! Blog on the reader clearly
November 4th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I don’t understand. What is the problem with hiring people again? Don’t we all need jobs. We NEED smart people with money who are independent, thinking, hardworking business people who are willing to stick their necks out and run a business and hire people and share the wealth that they make. It just doesn’t make sense to me to attack employers as somehow evil just because they have the ability to make money and hire people. They have what is known as a clue!! Taking their money in the form of higher taxes or legislating that they pay for all of their employees needs like healthcare, etc. only punishes people who we need in our nation. It’s not everyone that has the ability to hire people. We should be grateful for people who run businesses. It’s tough hard work that they willingly take on and accept the challenges without whining that someone isn’t taking care of them! A person doesn’t HAVE to work for John McCain or anyone for that matter if they don’t want to. A person looks at the wages, the hours, etc. and decides if they would like to take the job or not. We live in America. Let’s start being responsible for our own decisions from our health to credit card debt to whatever - you name it. Study hard, live joyfully, enjoy life and quite blaming others.