Caulk is cheap

I’m getting tired of hearing politicians talk about helping the middle class. It’s not so much that helping the middle class is a bad thing but we never get a concrete definition of what “middle class” means. Take, for example, Barack Obama and Social Security.

Obama on Meet the Press (video here):

“I think the best way to approach this is to adjust the cap on the payroll tax so that people like myself are paying a little bit more and people who are in need are protected,” the Illinois senator said.

“That is the option that I will be pushing forward.”

Currently, only the first $97,500 of a person’s annual income is taxed. The amount is scheduled to rise to $102,000 next year.

Obama’s proposal could include a gap or “doughnut hole” to shield middle-income earners from paying more in taxes, he said.

And Obama at the Vegas debate (video here):

And Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois brought himself to use Clinton’s name in a direct attack, criticizing the Democratic front-runner for failing to provide “straight answers to tough questions.” He also took a shot at her for suggesting that raising the level of income taxed for Social Security would unfairly burden average Americans.

“Understand that only 6 percent of Americans make more than $97,000 a year,” Obama said. “So 6 percent is not the middle class. It is the upper class.”

So is that “doughnut hole” of tax relief helping the middle class or the upper class?   Enquiring lower class people want to know.