Since when is a combined family income of $225,000 a year middle class or working class? Especially in a place like Alaska with such a low cost of living? The people Barack Obama is talking about are not making $225,000 a year. In fact MOST Americans are making well below that amount. Don't believe me? Check out this other article I found...on Slate.com!

Remember, this is GOP logic. You're only wealthy if you make more than $5 million a year.

"Alaska with such a low cost of living"?

Are you kidding? Have you ever been there?

YOUR own candidate says that's middle class. Didn't you guys pay attention when he was at Saddleback.

Uhh, the point of the article is that in Alaska, working class people do make that kind of money, esp. if they pull long hours.

Actually, the point of the article is that working class people can make lots of money, if they pull long hours for a few months and then take the rest of the year off for hunting and snowmobiling.

"He made a surprising amount of money—he had moved to Alaska because its wages were so high. He also had enviable stretches of leisure: He worked long shifts during the short construction season, then spent all fall and winter riding his "snowmachine" (Alaskan for snowmobile), panning for gold—yes, people still do that there—and hunting and fishing. "

Alaska is a very special case, it has the oil and gas resources, which result in a net transfer to the taxpayer from the State. In addition, it has been the biggest welfare recipient. Alaskans receive far more from the Federal Government than any other state. So no, Alaska cannot and should not be a model for other states.

That is what is so bizarre about Alaska in particular and this country as a whole. The so-called red states are filled with people who constantly complain about how big government is constantly interfering with their lives. Yet at the same time, they have their hands out for more and more taxpayer's money.

The truth is, as much as they claim to hate big government, they continually elect people to Washington who will pump more and more pork into their state.