Interesting graphic on how Americans spend money by 3 classes & who has what

[uppityperson]

[AX10]

1. K & R! Everyone should see this!

[uppityperson]

2. thanks and kick again

[Glenda]

7. self delete

i put this in the wrong spot

[knitter4democracy]

3. Interesting.

This shows how sales taxes would hurt the poor far more than the rich, if I'm reading it right.

[SoCalDem]

4. The higher the income, the more "free stuff" one gets too..

A high school friend of mine got braces in exchange for the orthodontist's kid getting the use of a Mustang ..free.. her dad had the Ford dealership in town, and the Mustang was carried on the books as a "dealer car"..

[knitter4democracy]

5. I've never heard of that kind of thing.

All the rich people I know never give away anything for free. Not anything, and not even to friends. Weird.

[SoCalDem]

6. no tax was paid on the "exhange"..tit-meet-tat

:)

[Mountainman]

11. There is a whole world of barter that doesn't involve money.

Professionals trading services for services or tangible things. It is a barter economy where no money changes hands and no taxes are paid.

[CTyankee]

10. Sales taxes have pretty much always been regarded as a regressive tax.

But good luck in trying to argue that point with a low income Republican. I truly don't know what they are smokin'...

[Glenda]

8. How I interpret this is...

Ok, I think this graph is confusing until you stare at it for 5 minutes. Possibly in the pink, blue, and black boxes, they could have put "after taxes/charity/education", where the final yearly net savings/loss are (which is found at the very right of the line graph as "financial flows"):

lowest fifth: -$10,716
middle fifth: $2,395
top fifth: $47,171

People spend proportionately the same on categories, as their income level goes up except:
- if you equate middle fifth with middle class, they are saving 5% of their income. Not a lot, is it?
- wealthier fifth spends more on home, auto, and taxes.
- wealthier fifth spends SOME on education, lower incomes almost not at all
- lower fifth can't live on that income, and they might not be splurging proportionately compared to the other incomes
- bottom graph - what we see, we want immediately - all of us. So maybe the lower fifth IS trying to keep up with the Jones's.

I'd like to see the other fifths as well.

[grasswire]

9. is there a link to this on the internet?

I want to print it out, but don't want to pirate without attribution and a link. Thanks.