Are You Better Off This Year?

Well I’m betting you are not unless you are a billionaire…

Connecticut's Billionaires Richer This Year, Along With Many On Forbes List
The Hartford Courant
By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN
September 22, 2011

Connecticut's slice of the Forbes annual list of wealthy Americans held steady in 2011, with the same 11 billionaires on the Forbes 400, and most of these very rich got richer.

Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers Group, leapfrogged to No. 60 from No. 209 in 2010, as his net worth soared to $5 billion from $1.4 billion a year ago. That made him the state's third-richest resident, up from seventh.

Once again, the wealthiest Connecticut resident on the 30th annual Forbes list was hedge-fund executive Steven Cohen, whose net worth of $8.3 billion earned him a spot at No. 35. Even though Cohen's net worth rose in 2011 by 14 percent from $7.3 billion last year, his position on the list slipped from No. 32.

But meanwhile the other Connecticut…

Typical CT Families Lost Ground Sharply In 2010 As Incomes Rose For Wealthier
Drop Was Second-Largest Among States
The Hartford Courant
By JANICE PODSADA and MATTHEW STURDEVANT
September 22, 2011

Median household income dropped last year in Connecticut more than in any other state except Nevada, even as the state's per-capita income rose by 2.9 percent.

Median income — the point at which half of household earnings are more and half are less — declined by 6.08 percent in Connecticut last year, falling to $64,032 from $68,174 in 2009, according to U.S. Census estimates released Thursday. Estimates are based on the ongoing American Community Survey.

In the same period, median household income for the U.S. as a whole fell by about 2.2 percent, decreasing to $50,046 in 2010 from $51,190 in 2009, the report said.

And the Republicans claim that taxing the rich is class warfare. But at the same time they are cutting the safety net for the middle class and the poor, isn't that class warfare? There is a picture on Facebook that some one posted from the Wall St protest that said "They only call it Class Warfare when we fight back"