(09-14-2015, 04:04 PM)irukandji Wrote: You're missing the point of slumming. The person slumming doesn't slum in some effort to bestow their shining personality on another they consider less fortunate. They slum because they're looking for something that they're not finding within their own socio-economic class. No one's saying Juliette didn't like Nick or considered herself above him in some way.
Exactly. When I was boxer more than one, attractive, well educated, upper class damsel decided to slum a bit. They were oft surprised by what they got an did not get. More often than not the impulse was for the thrill, and element of fantasy, the great unwashed brute of man "forcing" them to do those unspeakable acts that Biff would never dare think of much less suggest doing.
On the Doctor of Veterinary medicine side and BLS number discussion, the BLS data is flawed for Vets, Dentists and almost all small business owners. Just ask an CPA who does their books. With Vets in particular, those in practice have their reported income from their direct Vet practice, then usually another business under a separate TIN that is for pet supplies etc, and likely a separate boarding, training facility. Many have their own land and building and lease it to their self to lower their taxable income. The reason is to avoid having to pay both sides of social security and to convert what would be social security and medicare taxable dollars at ordinary income rates into long term capital gains (ie. if I buy real estate and lease it back they lower their social security and medicare taxable base substantially and convert ordinary income into a capital gain that can be postponed almost indefinitely by simply refinancing and or acquiring more capital assets.
And a concept called owner's benefit emerges. this allows you to more or less to take personal expenses and convert them to business expenses thus lowering your taxable income yet again.
The short of it, in the case of a Vet or Dentist or small business man I would not put a dime of credence into what the BLS claims they earn is. I would revise it substantially upwards.
In the end it is not what you make, it is what you keep after taxes that matters.