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The Charles Koch Foundation may want to check their numbers again

The Charles Koch Foundation doesn't appear to be very good with numbers, which is kind of odd considering Charles Koch is estimated to be worth $34 billion.

In a recent ad by Koch's conservative non-profit group, it asserts that if you make $34,000 or more, you're in the top 1% of earners (worldwide).

In the United States, where Mr. Koch resides last I heard, one must earn approximately $352,000 annually in order to be among the top 1%. $34,000, $352,000 - those numbers are so similar, I may have to re-watch the film Twins to make certain Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are not identical.

In actuality, $34,000 is just 9.7% of what it takes to make it into the top 1% of earners in this country. Making matters even worse for the Charles Koch Foundation and their odd math is the fact that the top 1% of earners in this country earn an average of $1.12 million. The $34,000 mentioned in the ad is just 3.0% of $1.12 million.

How far off are the numbers presented in the ad? If we take a similar formula to the one concocted in the ad ($34,000 = 9.7% of $352,000), the following would be true:

- The United States would be comprised of 4.85 states.

- The U.S. would have seen only 4.268 presidents in office.

- A Major League baseball team's starting lineup (including pitcher or designated hitter) would present 0.87 of a player.

- Rush Limbaugh would have been married only 0.388 times.

- Charles Koch would be worth just $3.298 billion.

Yeah, the Charles Koch Foundation claims that you're in the top 1% if you make $34,000, yet if we take just 9.7% of Charles Koch's net worth of $34 billion ($3.298 billion), that would be the equivalent of 97,000 families whom make $34,000 a year (1,000,000 families if we take Koch's total net worth). Yeah, the Charles Koch Foundation may want to check their numbers again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/koch-brothers-commercial_n_3581017.html

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/20/news/economy/top-1-percent/index.html

http://www.forbes.com/profile/charles-koch/

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