Marketplace Money for December 24, 2010

Segments From This Episode

• America, get realistic and tax the rich

  by Marketplace Staff

  The American Dream — the belief that anyone can work their way up the ladder to prosperity — is deeply intertwined into U.S. culture. But it's also deeply affecting our thoughts about income taxes, says commentator Felix Salmon, and we need to become more realistic.

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• Question: Is $250,000 rich?

  by Marketplace Staff

  The number of $250,000 a year has been thrown around by politicians as being "wealthy" and "rich." But is it really? Tess Vigeland talks to financial psychologist Ted Klontz and the Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank about wealth in America.

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• Burdens of wealth

  by Mitchell Hartman

  With money comes a lot of responsibility, and that's what many have learned the hard way. Depending on how you got rich also seems to play a role in how you handle it. Mitchell Hartman reports.

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• What $250k gets you: Rodeo Drive vs. Rodeo Road

  by Tess Vigeland

  

  A walk down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is a lot different from walking down the similarly named Rodeo Road, which is just six miles away in South Los Angeles. UCLA public policy professor Michael Stoll takes us on a tour of the two neighborhoods.

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• Question: What makes us feel wealthy?

  by Marketplace Staff

  In a second question posed to financial psychologist Ted Klontz and the Wall Street Journal's Robert Frank, Tess Vigeland asks what it is that makes people feel wealthy. It turns out, the fact that many don't believe they're rich may be the problem.

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• How perception affects our sense of wealth, and taxes

  by Marketplace Staff

  How we each individually live our lives often depends on how we see our peers live their lives. For people making $250,000 a year, or the top 2 percent income in the country, that means probably surrounding themselves with even richer people. And that's why there was a debate over taxes, says the New Yorker's James Surowiecki.

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• What popular culture tells us about wealth

  by Tess Vigeland

  

  In reality, there may not be many of us who actually know someone who is rich. Instead, we get all our perceptions of wealth from popular culture — TV, movies, books, the Internet. Tess Vigeland takes a look back at the trends of wealth throughout entertainment's past.

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• Question: How has people’s wealth changed?

  by Marketplace Staff

  With the fall of the stock market and the Great Recession, everyone from the very wealthy to the not-wealthy felt losses. How much were people really affected? Ted Klontz and Robert Frank discuss with Tess Vigeland.

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• How much for the 12 Days of Christmas?

  by Sean Cole

  Thinking of gifting someone "The 12 Days of Christmas" this year? Well you better be well-off. Sean Cole investigates the true price of the song.

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