ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE WHO ARE THE RICH?
By Joseph Spiers

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Lady Hunstanton: ''I am afraid in England we have too many artificial social barriers. We don't see as much as we should of the middle and lower classes.'' -- From A Woman of No Importance, by Oscar Wilde. Despite gestures toward them by President Bush, the rich don't have many outspoken friends in Washington these days. Bush aimed most of his State of the Union proposals at the middle class. In refashioning his ideas, the Democratic-controlled Congress will surely tilt them further in that direction. It may very well try to raise taxes on ''the rich,'' a notion that resonates so nicely on the hustings. What kind of people would get hit? To most politicians, ''rich'' seems to start with a household income of around $100,000 a year. Included, of course, are the likes of Madonna and Michael Jordan. But about 2.5% of American households qualify, among them some 40% of FORTUNE's subscribers (congratulations). Most top-tier earners are in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. So even if you're fairly ordinary, you might still be smart, hard working, and lucky enough to be ''rich'' -- at least for tax purposes. In contrast to Lady Hunstanton, however, you likely view yourself as middle class, having done very middle-class things to get where you are. Namely, according to U.S. census data, you probably went to college, became a manager or professional, worked full time, and married someone who works too.

There's also about a 40% chance you live in California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Massachusetts -- states where your dollars don't go very far because of high housing costs and taxes. Runzheimer International, a consulting firm in Rochester, Wisconsin, calculates that a person in Los Angeles needs $100,000 for the lifestyle an income of $73,000 buys in Dallas. But in much of Washington's eyes, the Angeleno is undertaxed.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: RECESSION BENCHMARKS Who can remember a year that produced a more vivid crop of economic comparisons with the past than 1991? Here's FORTUNE's tally so far. If you can find a pattern, please write us.