defining "rich"

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Wall Street Journal - March 16, 2001
>
>Survey Shows Americans Hold
>A Skewed Definition of 'Rich'
>
>By JUNE FLETCHER
>Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
<snip>
>What? A million dollars isn't rich anymore? The economic news these 
>days may be depressing, but Americans' idea of what it takes to be 
>wealthy is more inflated than ever. According to a nationwide 
>opinion survey on wealth conducted as the stock market was sliding, 
>Americans believe you need to make $1 million -- per year -- to be 
>considered "rich." And you also need a lot more than a big house: 
>Think private planes and an in-house movie theater.
>
>In reality, only about 1% of U.S. households bring in that much -- 
>and far fewer own their own jets. But analysts say a decade of 
>unparalleled prosperity has skewed the public's take on wealth. And 
>those high expectations could sharpen the pain for everyone if the 
>economy keeps stumbling. Americans "will have to scale back their 
>expectations," says James Bryan, professor of economics at 
>Manhattanville College. "Real wealth will seem even further out of 
>reach."

Real wealth -- wealth of the ruling class -- *is* out of reach of the 
99% of Americans (the majority of whom are proletarian & only a tiny 
minority of whom are petit-bourgeois).  It is the WSJ reporter & the 
professor of economics quoted above -- who disapprove of the 
perceptions of non-opinion-making Americans -- that have a skewed 
definition of "Rich."  Despite their infamous beliefs in God, heaven, 
angels, etc., Americans turn out to be a sensible lot.  They might 
even entertain a Marxist definition of class relations (if they hear 
of it, that is).  There is hope yet.  :-)

Yoshie