All you have to do is look at the discrepancy between the home prices in Ross and San Anselmo (geographically nearly identical locations) to see that YES Ross is part of the 1%. I, as a FORMER 20 year Ross resident, am happy to live here, in San Anselmo, among my fellow 99%ers!

I found a handy tool to determine what income percentile you're in based upon 2009 values:

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2010/12/whats-your-us-income-ranking.html

A little fiddling indicates that if your household income exceeds $205,000 then you're in the 1% of American earners. I'd guess that a good percentage of both Ross and San Anselmo fits this description, so yes the 1% are all around us.

I find it absolutely fascinating that people who talk about very personal things with their friends and acquaintances will not talk about how much money they make or have. It's a pretty taboo subject - the only ones who seem willing to talk about it are the ones who don't have much or any; even then it's a struggle for most people to get beyond the essential taboo of talking about what we make.

I don't really want to talk about how much money people make nor do I care...it would not only be pretentious but incredibly boring. I find that how much money one makes is usually the least interesting thing about a person.

Keo, how much money do you make? See, it's culturally taboo to ask or reveal or even to express an interest. I know it has little to do with the person, but it's a salient point for the political reason alluded to by this article.

I don't want to know how much others make, or how much they owe, it's none of my business. What is important is how you affect the lives of others Rich or Poor. I follow the Golden Rule.

In a time where the accumulation of wealth by the very wealthiest is at its highest level since the late 1920's, it's germane to talk about how much we make for what we do. I know it's not comfortable, but we have to create a more fair and equitable society somehow. Just how to do that - that's the hard part.

I think that there are a lot of wannabe 1% ers in Ross- but no way are they- they don't even get close to qualifying- the real 1%ers probably lent the money for those guys to buy those homes and they probably hold their mortgages as well! Check out the movie- 'The 1%'- by the inheritor of Johnson and Johnson- it's in the library! or go to see the film 'Thrive'- showing all over the bay area- once again made by one of the 1%- Proctor and Gamble family member who questions the cliff we are diving over -go to thrive.com to see the trialer and find a venue- last night the film was co-sponsored by the Bioneers at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael- it is showing in venues all over Marin.

Well, it begs the question. Are we talking about wealth or income? Wealth is harder to track. Income must be reported every year by everyone that earns anything above a relatively trivial amount. The numbers that I was able to find indicate that the 1% cutoff is somewhere between $205K and $230K annual per household. I'd imagine that a good percent of Ross residents make that cut.