[bko]

These wealthy people don't have a crystal ball and we're likely highly invested in the market at time of crash.

> The top 1% had an average income of $1.26 million in 2014, a 19.1% decrease compared to $1.56 million in 2007, according to an analysis of tax data from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Paris School of Economics. It’s even worse news for the top 0.01%, whose average income fell to 27.4% from 2007 to a mere $29 million in 2014.

http://money.com/money/4264052/great-recession-impact-rich-1...

[DataWorker]

Talking about taxable incomes for the top .01% is silly. You should google the paradise papers or just do some basic reading. Wage workers have incomes that are a function of their job, the top .01% have income from a variety of sources and probably have tax specialists to help them adjust their income up or down to be most favorable given prevailing economic situation.

[bko]

> You should google the paradise papers or just do some basic reading

Saying "you should google ..." is not a source. If you want to provide a source for your claim about some group, back it up. You're not making meaningful contribution to the discussion.

Yes, the very wealthy have a variety of sources of income (e.g. stocks) and those dropped greatly in value. Unemployment peaked at maybe 10% during the crisis. So some percentage of people lost jobs while the wealthiest who have most their wealth in capital that dropped 30%.

Ironically, having tax exempt investments hurts when your portfolio drops in value as you won't be able to write those off.

[DataWorker]

You are talking about the middle class. I am talking about people with more wealth than Bill Gates. The people who don’t have accountants and advisors, only own a one or two properties and maybe a million or so stashed for retirement; these people suffered more than Soros or Buffett.