Blue State vs. Red State is so last decade: Now, the dividing lines in America are percentages: 99%, 1%, 53%, 47% ... the list goes on. And figuring out who to sympathize with -- or even who you are -- can leave a person 100% confused. We break down the numbers.
The Occupy Wall Street crowd has plenty of reasons to complain about how the big financial institutions treat Main Street America. But you'll be shocked to find out how poorly the masters of the investment world treat their richest clients. Multimillionaire and ex-CEO Al Checchi pulls back the curtain.
Filmmaker and political gadfly Michael Moore has joined the Occupy Wall Street movement, and his tirades against corporate greed, bailouts for bankers, unemployment are all mostly accurate and on point -- but when he says "the 99%" should stay out of the markets, he's giving terrible financial advice.
The wealthiest Americans saw their income nearly triple in the three decades to 2007, substantially more than all other segments of the population, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.
Tax increases on the wealthy just got another outspoken defender: Google's 59th employee, Doug Edwards. On Monday, in a town hall meeting in California, President Obama called on a seemingly-anonymous member of the audience to ask a question. What happened next was surprising.
Younger voters are weighing in extremely positively on President Obama's proposal to tax millionaires another $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. According to a new survey, 80% of Americans under the age of 30 strongly support the move, while less than 9% oppose it.
Earlier this week, Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) complained that he only netted $600,000 in 2010, and thus couldn't afford to pay higher taxes: "Class warfare never created a job," said Fleming. Former Obama administration official Elizabeth Warren, now running for the Senate, is ready with the counter-argument.
Before President Obama outlined his strategy Monday for America's millionaires to shoulder more of the tax burden, The Price of Fame asked show business types at the recent Toronto International Film Festival this burning question: Should celebrities and other wealthy people pay more in taxes?
Last week, Warren Buffett wrote an incredible opinion piece in The New York Times asking the government to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, himself included. "My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress," he argued, and he's not alone in that view.
America has always had a love/hate relationship with its wealthiest citizens, and the Great Recession has only made it worse. The trouble is, while everybody knows that "the rich" are the enemy, it's hard to determine where exactly the line lies between salt-of-the-earth members of the middle class and the bloated plutocrats.
American Express's fabled "Black Card," -- the Centurion Card -- is reserved for the world's wealthiest and most elite. Just what does take to get this highest of high-end accounts, and what benefits does it offer the uber-rich? The lucky few don't talk much about it, but DailyFinance has some details.
Nearly 90% of Americans still see owning a home as a key part of the American Dream, but 39% see us in a permanent economic downturn. Meanwhile, Obama has set his sights on closing tax loopholes for businesses and the rich, but the Fed just cut banks a break in new rules on debit card swipe fees.
The GOP approach of cutting taxes and slashing expenses has its attractions: Nobody likes paying taxes, and "tightening our belts" sounds ever so grown up. But these proposed cuts in taxes and spending will benefit the wealthy, while placing an outsized burden on the country's poor and middle class.
When it comes to its population of millionaires, the U.S. still leads the world, but other countries have gained recently, The Boston Consulting Group reports. In particular, the report found a stagnation of wealth growth in developed nations, but rapid wealth growth in the developing world.
A temporary change in the tax code is creating a sweet opportunity. Through 2012, the amount you can give in tax-free gifts jumps from $1 million to $5 million. In this video, Kevin Sanderford, principal of Colorado West Investments, explains how you can take advantage of this "two-year window."