How close were you? What does that say about your ability to relate to the average American?
https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/business-school-professor-average-us-salary/
How close were you? What does that say about your ability to relate to the average American?
https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/business-school-professor-average-us-salary/
I guessed 43k. So I was a tad low.
Can't believe all the students that thought it was in the 6 figures. Crazy.
I saw this and had a few thoughts. Yeah, the $800K was crazy, but also could be a typo and the person meant $80K. Still high but if you are only around others who went to the Ivy League then maybe that is what you thought.
Also, what is "average American salary" is that including every American even those not working? Also according to the article that data from SSA the prof was off by $10K (low). Where did that the $43 K come from?
Also the avg and the median are pretty different (not that she asked about median, but it might be a better indicator).
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Maybe they just don't consider poors to be people, so they exclude them from the calculation when asked to estimate "the average person's salary."
It is actually worse than that, the median salary is more like 36k. Average is not a very good metric.
It's possible that some of the responders assumed a distinction between people earning hourly wages and salaried employees on annual contracts and thought the question only referred to the latter.
I guessed $75K, because of all the people in CA and NY, and large cities who I see on HGTV buying these expensive houses. I just assumed that they make a lot more in those places than in the rural South.
possible explanation wrote:
Maybe they just don't consider poors to be people, so they exclude them from the calculation when asked to estimate "the average person's salary."
Or they were only including those employed. unemployed people who don't want to work skew the numbers quite a bit.
whartongrad wrote:
How close were you? What does that say about your ability to relate to the average American?
https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/business-school-professor-average-us-salary/
You know the crazy thing. The increase in Elon Musk's net worth from 100 billion to 300 billion over the last 3 years or so when factored in would have boosted the average salary for an American by approximately $1500 per annum.
Well considering 47 percent don't pay income tax.
Low
The average American doesn't have a salary. There are more wage earners than there are salaried employees. Did you mean to ask about average income, or average income from employment?
iowagrad wrote:
I guessed 43k. So I was a tad low.
Can't believe all the students that thought it was in the 6 figures. Crazy.
Same guess here. I hadn't seen your post.
rich people wrote:
It is actually worse than that, the median salary is more like 36k. Average is not a very good metric.
Most people are stupid and don't realize how big of a difference average and median is. Especially when you have things that have no limit on one side of the spectrum, but can are limited by 0 on the low side. I'm preaching to the choir, but take 10 people, 9 of them make even distribution from $20k to $95k and the last one makes $880k the median the average gets calculated at $100k+ even though the 'typical' median person is really around $50k.
I would guess high $40K's to $50K. I assume we are talking about the median income for someone who works full time.
Imagine being the student who thought it'd be funny to write in $800k as a joke, but then instead of just getting an eye-roll and a chuckle from their professor, they instead set off a twitter firestorm from idiots who took them seriously.
GreatDane1 wrote:
You know the crazy thing. The increase in Elon Musk's net worth from 100 billion to 300 billion over the last 3 years or so when factored in would have boosted the average salary for an American by approximately $1500 per annum.
200 billion over 3 years distributed to the rest of Americans is 200 $/yr if you include all Americans or 325 $/yr if you only include working age population. Not the 1500 you suggest. Although 200$ is still impressive.
RunnerSam wrote:
GreatDane1 wrote:
You know the crazy thing. The increase in Elon Musk's net worth from 100 billion to 300 billion over the last 3 years or so when factored in would have boosted the average salary for an American by approximately $1500 per annum.
200 billion over 3 years distributed to the rest of Americans is 200 $/yr if you include all Americans or 325 $/yr if you only include working age population. Not the 1500 you suggest. Although 200$ is still impressive.
Except that net worth and salary are different.
rich people wrote:
It is actually worse than that, the median salary is more like 36k. Average is not a very good metric.
Yeah this is right. A handful of super inflated salaries in the US doesn't tell the whole picture. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck, with very few doing exceptionally well. Their exceptionally well is exponentially larger than the average American. Income inequality is real, folks. Even if you're making $100k, you're much closer to average than you're led to believe. We should all have a lot more class solidarity but there are enough 100kers that will convince themselves they're neighbors with Bezos before thinking about our economic system.
Perhaps a bit off topic but I have hewed to the notion - without any happiness personally - that our system treats capital far better than labor. Just a very hard reality.
This makes the median a little more disappointing. Perhaps depressing.
I have managed my affairs for over 30 years knowing well that capital is preferred over labor, and it is easier said than done in terms of getting ahead. As a lawyer, I closed a defined benefit pension plan for a Fortune 20 entity (at least a significant aspect of it) 20 years ago and it really hit home the need to save and invest. Again, easier said than done. I am concerned that most do not know how to handle living in a world without defined benefit pension plans, which are becoming rarer and are for the most part in the domain of public sector workers, who do by and large have limited compensation in exchange for deferred pension income. This board - full of achieving runner types - likely has a number of people who do manage savings and investments well, but I am not persuaded this is the norm.
I know this is a bit off topic but does square with notions of income inequality - with the real beast being wealth inequality.
GreatDane1 wrote:
whartongrad wrote:
How close were you? What does that say about your ability to relate to the average American?
https://fortune.com/2022/01/21/business-school-professor-average-us-salary/You know the crazy thing. The increase in Elon Musk's net worth from 100 billion to 300 billion over the last 3 years or so when factored in would have boosted the average salary for an American by approximately $1500 per annum.
UNREALIZED GAINS! Give me a break.
That money isn't Elon Musk's until he actually sells his stock, which is pretty much the ENTIRE amount of his wealth increase.
Let's say your parents bought a house 30 years ago for $100k in Los Angeles, that house is now worth $800k. Your parents haven't sold the house, they just own the house that is now worth more than when they bought it. Should they have to pay taxes on that $700k? NO! They haven't sold it! Where are they going to get the more than $100k of money that would be required to pay the taxes on that? They have been working their normal jobs, and would have to pay an additional $100k to pay the taxes on their $800k that they haven't even sold yet. And what happens if something happens and that $800k isn't worth $800k next year and they find themselves in a situation where they need to sell the house for only $600k even though they paid taxes on it as if it would have been worth $800k...
DO NOT PAY TAXES ON UNREALIZED GAINS! It's ridiculous that people even think this is something that should happen. You don't sell taxes on stocks price increases until you sell it, because it's not real money until you sell it. It's almost imaginary until they actually sell it. If Elon turned around and sold 100% of his stock next week he wouldn't get nearly the amount it's worth right now because the price per share would drop quite a bit once he starts selling that much of it.