Spying On 'What (Other) People Earn'

Whenever I get my Sunday newspaper, one of the things that I read -- and have read for years -- is the Parade magazine insert.

Parade is like the poor-man's People, but without the cover charge.

For as long as I can remember, Parade has published an annual article showing what people earned around the country for that given year. The people showcased in the article range from average folk to celebrities to current newsmakers.

This past weekend Parade ran the 2009 version of this article and I voyeuristically studied the collection of mugshots, happy to see both my face and my salary not among them.

I always find this annual article very interesting. First of all, how do they convince the common folk featured in the story to divulge their income? I wouldn't.

And does Parade request a copy of their income tax forms to verify that John Benes, a plumber from Texas really made just $39,300 while Christine Kenseth, an aerobics instructor from Wisconsin made almost 80 grand?

Benes sounds like he's sandbagging and Kenseth may be exaggerating a smidge. If she was a cheesemaker, perhaps I could believe her salary or if she lived in uber health-conscious Southern California, but an aerobics instructor from Wisconsin pulling down eighty-gees? Sorry, I don't believe it.

I assume that Parade doesn't ask the celebrities for their earnings from the previous year, but rather gleans them from existing news reports. For instance, I'm pretty sure that Rush Limbaugh didn't divulge to a reporter from Parade that he made $38 million last year.

I think some people on the list deserve a raise, even in this awful economy. Chesley Sullenberger, the cool-headed pilot who landed his jet in the Hudson after playing chicken with a flock of geese and wound up losing his engines, would be a worthy candidate for a raise in my book.

I see that Rod Blagojevich, the ex-governor of Illinois, made $177,400 last year. Parade didn't indicate if that included any bribes. Or should I saw alleged bribes?

Josh Bacott of St. Louis made $10,700 as a sports blogger. Who knew you could make money blogging. I sure don't.

Mark Chandler made almost twenty grand as a library messenger in Indiana. His job title intrigued me. What exactly does a library messenger do? One would think that this type of work would have been rendered obsolete by email and the phone years ago.

Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York City, only pulled in one dollar last year for managing the metropolis. Yes, just a buck. And that's before taxes. After taxes, he probably only made about 50 cents. If New York City employees get paid monthly, does he get checks for 4 cents twelve times a year?

Reading that Bloomberg only makes one dollar as mayor really made me wonder how fiscally diligent he was to become a billionaire in the first place. Perhaps he inherited it.

His story is actually kind of sad.

With a salary that low, you can't buy much. Not even the Sunday paper with the Parade magazine in it that has his mugshot and salary.