What is rich?

In today's NYT, Krugman asks the question of what is rich and what is middle class? Of course, the cynics answer is "rich = those who make more than me, middle class = what I make," but this is a serious question that doesn't seem to get much play. There are tons of factors that could be weighed in making a determination couched on a numerical cusp, but at the end of the day, it is more of a "feel" than a number. Krugman highlights just how each of the two candidates for president "feel" on this, by going back to the way each answered the question of "at what income do you move from middle class to rich?," posed by Rick Warren.

Mr. Obama answered the question seriously, defining middle class as meaning an income below $150,000. Mr. McCain, at first, made it into a joke, saying “how about $5 million?” Then he declared that it didn’t matter because he wouldn’t raise anyone’s taxes. That wasn’t just an evasion, it was a falsehood: Mr. McCain’s health care plan, by limiting the deductibility of employer-paid insurance premiums, would effectively raise taxes on a number of people.

I really do have to pick up the book "Richistan" by Robert Frank mentioned in this op-ed, as I've seen it cited quite often recently.