Of course it does. By any objective measure, anyone earning $250,000 annually is earning more than the vast majority of the world. Only around 3% of American households (we're talking combined incomes) reported that much income in 2006, and that salary would put you in the top 0.001% richest people in the world.

But last week YahooFinance ran a touching story about a couple earning $300,000 a year who "feel the same pressures squeezing Americans up and down the income ladder," like rising gas prices, healthcare costs, and their $3,000 a month mortgage. People just don't recognize that "$250,000 stretches a lot further in the South or the Midwest than in Manhattan or Silicon Valley" these days.

Not that those earning $250,000+ aren't dealing with rising costs, but the point of the article was to portray people in that income bracket as average, middle-class Americans on the verge of being victimized by Obama's tax increases. His plan calls for tax cuts for those earning under $250,000 and increases for those making above that, and the plan is going to be spun as an overall increase.

But take a look at the actual effects of the tax plans McCain and Obama are proposing. The chart below comes from the Tax Policy Center, which is run by the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. Incomes in the first four quintiles will rise substantially more under an Obama administration, whereas those in the last quintile will do better under McCain (and the most substantial difference is for the top 1%).