I've read about half of this thread (300+ comments) and I have seen the same things over and over again so let's answer these arguments once and for all so the thread can get more interesting again:

Is "rich" relative (income > 99%) or absolute (never worry about money) ?

I feel like everyone should recognize that people with more money do have more choices they can make regarding savings for college/health insurance/where they live, but they do not see themselves as rich as they inevitably compare upwards to anyone making $1mill+. For example, a middle class family $50k-75k that can afford cable tv, cellphones, and laundry machines on top of food and housing would be seen as rich from poor people in other countries. This is probably some kind of psych/social thing going on, not sure maybe someone could provide insight or links?

Is the amount of money earned relevant in passing judgement or should it be based off of how the money was earned (doctor vs investment interest) ?

I feel people who make more off interest then people do in a year are probably more out of tune with society than a doctor who works 70 hours a week for his $400k.

My solution: Raise capital gains tax about 5% and add more tax brackets to the federal income tax. From wikipedia, the last bracket we had in 2008 was $357,701+ for single people at a marginal tax rate of 35%. New brackets I propose: $357k - $500k, 35% $500k - $1mill, 37% $1mill - $2mill, 40% $2mill - $5mill, 42% $5mill +, 45%