I guess my comment - written in too much haste and not enough thought - is a
good example of how «
ordinary» people can be earning a lot more
than is typically expected or assumed, and in turn how popular perceptions of
income distributions can indeed by quite far off the mark.
In particular, if you have a large capital loss — long - term or short - term — you may be
better off if you have short - term capital gain
than if you have
ordinary income.