Who are “the rich” 1 percenters?

Protesters link arms at an Occupy Seattle protest. (AP)

Some Occupy Wall Street protesters are identifying themselves as the “99 percenters,” but who are “the rich” that make up the other one percent?

97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank tried to define what makes someone “rich” and found it’s pretty difficult to pin down.

“How do you define rich?” asked guest host Tom Tangney.

Ross responded by saying he’d call anyone that makes more money than him a rich person.

“Exactly, I think that’s the universal definition,” said Tangney.

Dave suggested another possible way to characterize the rich. “How about this? When most of the stuff that you own goes unused or unoccupied by you 90 percent of the time.”

“That’s not fair, because by that definition, our ramshackle cabin without running water up on Whidbey Island makes me a rich person,” said Tangney.

Listen to discussion: Who are “the rich?”

Tangney pointed to the $250,000 line drawn by the president. “For political purposes, the president wants to define it as $250,000 joint income,” says Tangney. “Harry Reid came back and said, ‘No actually, I know you’re with my party, but it’s $1 million.'”

Tom and Dave agree $1 million is a nice round number, but Tom pointed out “even $1 million doesn’t get you $1 million as millionaires say.”

Dave acknowledged it’s very difficult to set an actual number for what rich is, but says people know it when they see it.

“I’ve had occasion to visit some of the places that rich people live, and some of them are the size of railroad stations,” says Ross.

The Washington Post says, “Taken literally, the top 1 percent of American households had a minimum income of $516,633 in 2010.”

“Nobody who’s rich feels rich, because they have all these other expectations that come along with it,” Tangney concluded.

By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor