The ethics of citizenship

[Undertoad]

Quick note on the poverty numbers... I'm pretty sure I fall into the 20% category by not paying myself any actual income.

And I live in a plush house in the burbs with equity and everything, and have never been in danger of losing it.

This year my accountant says I should pay myself, so I will enter into a new government category, no longer "chronically unemployed" because I will send them tax money from a paycheck.

But I've not been actually unemployed; I've been self-employed. Maybe underemployed, but during most of it I wasn't looking for work.

And when I pay myself I'll still have the same amount of cash, because before I paid myself I took money out of the corporation as equity payments.

That's why the poverty numbers look so high in the elderly categories. The elderly are likely to be living off their equity, not income. They're not working at McDonald's, they're selling their houses and retiring to Palm Beach.