That pesky 1 percent.

• Author: Adams, Tucker Hart
• Position: The ECONOMIST

BACK IN THE DARK AGES WHEN I WAS IN college (that would be (lie 1950s), our professors used to lament We fact that we didn't protest and demonstrate like European students did. Clearly we were inferior when it came to having a social conscience. I've often wondered what they thought after the changes the 1960s brought.

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Occupy Wall Street certainly brought out a diverse group of demonstrators - everyone from scruffy types who looked like they'd never held a job to gray flannel suits to the homeless. Most didn't have a lot of' staying power when the weather got cold they packed up their clown sleeping bags and went home but now that spring has arrived they'll be back.

I think it is fine to complain about the huge salaries a few executives receive. As I've said before, no one is worth tens of millions a year. But before we move back onto the sidewalk for a summer of subversive disruption, perhaps we should take a look at exactly who comprises the 1 percent.

According to the most recent. Internal Revenue Service data, it was anyone earning more than $343,927 in 2009. (Other, less dependable but more recent data put it as high as $516,000.) Now, I've never earned S344,000 in a year, although I've voted salaries that high for the CEOs of companies for which I served as a director. I don't think it is .1.11 outrageous amount for a job that consumes one's life 24/7 and imposes a huge level of responsibility for thousands of jobs and incomes and product safety fin millions.

Or look at it. another way. After adjusting for inflation, who are the 1 percent.? According to the most recent IRS data, it was anyone earning more than $360,603 in 2011 dollars.

Even at. the peak or the boom in 2007. the cutoff point in inflation-adjusted dollars, S160,1-33. was below 1986. It was much lower during the Great Recession in 2009.

The 1 percent receives about 21 percent of gross income but they pay 40 percent of all federal income taxes and 21 percent or total taxes, including payroll, state and local taxes. They would pay far more if the Social Security tax were imposed on all income (as I think it should be), not just the first S110.000. That's one reason Warren Buffett pays a. lower tax rate than his secretary.

One third or the hated I percent are executives in...