A new article by CNN Money’s Geoff Colvin came out today and it delivered a simple message: Obama’s tax plans won’t help balance the budget, and may in fact hurt the “upper” middle class. According to President Obama, you get tagged as “rich” once you make $250,000 and up. However, the SEC begs to differ, claiming that “rich” doesn’t start until you are standing at a net worth of $700,000. We all know how smart and intelligent the guys over at the SEC are, and if you need a reminder, click here.  My main gripe is where Mr. Colvin’s article points out that:

“The flaw in [Obama's] definition of rich is that plenty of families making $250,000 a year don’t feel rich. They probably see themselves as upper middle class, especially if they live in blue-state coastal cities and suburbs. An income of $250,000 is a lot richer in Abilene, Texas, than in New York’s Nassau County, where it takes $430,000 to enjoy a similar quality of life, according to bankrate.com. So let’s call them the “working rich.”

Places like New York and California have artificially high costs of living. House prices have begun to drop in California, but in areas of New York, the bubble has yet to burst. If you are living in Nassau County, then you choose that higher cost of living. However, you have no business living in such an expensive place if doing so is beyond your means. If making $250k still isn’t quite enough to put you in that nice half-acre property with the picket fence, then you need to move. The problem is, American’s love living in excess, consuming and using more than they need to be happy. Why else do people want houses with more than ten bedrooms, a five car garage and a staff of maids to clean? I have no sympathy if you make $250k and consider yourself simply upper middle class because you choose a lifestyle that is simply beyond your means. All I’m saying is, don’t try to ball like Lebron when you’re really just a bench warmer.

The article ends with a small paragraph bitching about the re-distribution of wealth (read: that Socialism argument again) that President Obama’s policies will accomplish. I for one am simply tired of hearing about it. Mr. Colvin ends with an analogy: “that reslicing the pie to give the rich a smaller piece doesn’t make the pie any bigger – and won’t get us out of the recession any faster.” So what do Republicans want to do about this? Last time I checked, they simply wanted to lower taxes for the richest Americans. How does reslicing that pie work out? Will that get us out of this recession faster? I think not. You think the rich, who arguably create jobs for the “rest of us”, will dump all those savings into mainstreet? Or will they do what they’ve been doing the past few years and pilfer, ponzi-scheme and fleece America all while getting richer. Because people who live like this are most assuredly going to give back to people living like this. Even if Obama’s plan doesn’t work, what is wrong with trying to make things a little better for those who have fallen through the cracks, especially when doing so doesn’t hurt the “working rich” and “ridiculously rich” very much? Oh wait, that’s Socialism I guess.