Multimillionaire Charles Koch

Multimillionaire Charles Koch claims that people who make $34,000 a year are within the wealthiest 1% in the world (Charles Koch Foundation: An Income Of $34,000 Puts You In The Wealthiest 1 Percent, Huffington Post by David Winograd 7/11/2013).

While it is true that $34,000 a year will make you pretty well-off in some parts of the world, what matters is where you are in the world with your money. Charles Koch and all the people to whom he was addressing his message happen to be living in the U.S. where — any student of economics could tell Mr. Koch — $34,000 a year would rank a person in the bottom of the economic totem pole, placing them in the poverty level.

Charles Koch’s success stems from inheriting a lot of money and learning to how keep it safe by all means good and bad. He knows that his assertion about people making $34,000 a year is downright misleading. So why is Charles Koch spending tons of money in an advertising campaign that makes the ridiculous claim? Is it because he wants to make sure the government stops protecting low- and middle-income people? Or is it simply because he despises the unfortunate? These are questions that psychologists and sociologists could answer.