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A tax that could be implemented without actually destroying much value is requiring sufficiently large companies to employ worthies in well-paying sinecures. That is, presumably, the actual demand when you boil it down; much of the left side of the spectrum's representation is about how unfair it is that their degrees in fan fiction from a communist's ass don't automatically result in a high standard of living. Of course, that doesn't mean the median leftist believes this; most presumably are not the twitterati socialists who believe they should have a comfortably above median standard of living without doing any actual work, on the strength of their ideological purity(mostly expressed through degree-having). But the twitterati socialists are the representation to the public, and their enoblement would calm the rest of the leftists because they would no longer have an amplifier to their concerns.
The ringleaders, though, are doing just fine -- Bernie has several houses and a net worth of about $3M, whereas Warren's net worth is estimated at $12M.
Which is upper-middle-class wealth in a country as rich as America. I don't think there is anything surprising about, or wrong with a successful politician being upper-middle-class.
$12M is close to top 1% in wealth. $3M is 94th percentile. This is not the upper middle class.
"Close to, but not in, the top 1%" is precisely what upper middle class means.
Also, wealth tends to accumulate over time. So "upper middle class wealth" for a 76-year-old like Warren is a higher dollar amount than it would be for us.
The only people who think that the upper class starts at 99% are people between 90%-99% who don't want to face the reality that they aren't middle class. "No officer, you don't understand, I'm only at 98.5%ile."
British usage assumes a pyramidal society, so there are more working class people than middle-class people and more lower middle than upper middle. To be considered upper class you traditionally needed to have a social network that includes hereditary peers, so upper-middle class stretches a long way up the income scale. A big 4/MBB/Magic Circle partner would definitely be considered upper-middle class, not upper (unless they were upper for family reasons).
In America, everyone except the underclass and the super-rich considers themselves middle-class. Americans don't generally use the term upper-middle class, but the term middle-class is used by both the people themselves and politicians appealing them to cover everyone from a plumber to a HENRY, and upper-middle class refers to the top echelon of that huge group. Paul Fussell's Class (published 1982 so somewhat out of date, but I am not aware of any book since which attempted to define upper-middle class in the US context) gives doctors, lawyers, small town real estate developers and middle-to-VP level managers at large companies as paradigmatically upper-middle class. Warren's $12 million accumulated over a successful career would be well within the achievable range for those professions, though probably above average.
The only time I have seen the words upper-middle class used seriously in an American political context was to describe the people on incomes of $250k-400k who might or might not benefit from Obama's partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, which is also close to but not in the top 1% and given the rising stock market since the Obama era seems consistent with a net worth reaching $3-12 million today.
The algorithm I use that works in any rich country:
By non-income class, both Bernie and Warren are senatorial class, which is pretty darned high.
Agreed. That is why I don't think them enjoying the material standard of living of an eques should be scandalous.
The idea that successful politicians should live a lower-middle class lifestyle is pernicious - both because it creates a political economy of junketing, and because it means only people who love political power enough to take a large paycut will go into politics.
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