My sister has real estate assets worth about $1M. We were dirt poor when she was little, she's worked hard since she was 15 and been careful with her money, and she deserves it. And she is hardly rich. Frankly, I think it speaks well of Sotomayor that her residence is a modest condo in the Village.

Her salary is over 150,000 per year. And she has a pension which means she does not have to save for her old age. In spite of the million dollar house she may not be rich, rich. But she is not your average person.

I'm not judging her. In fact given that it was inevitable Obama would choose a moderate rather than left liberal (cause that is where he is) I think she is a great choice. Just nobody with a million dollar house is an average Joe or Jill.

Which is fine. I don't want an average Joe or Jill on the Supreme court. I was just making fun of the paper for describing her finances as average.

She's deffinately well off. I doubt you'd find a single commentator who remarks on it and is worth less though.

And its not nearly the kind of money she's be making as a partner in a lawfirm.

That was one of the things that annoyed me with the harping on the Obama's finances -- you know this is better than the average bear but NOTHING compared to what he could be making.

But the thing is, she could have bought it for $20k in 1979 - saying that someone owns an apartment valued at $1M in Manhattan is pretty meaningless on its own.

I just meant that if she sold it, she could stand to make a million dollars. Depending on whether she owned it outright, of course.

I mean, I don't care what she makes, or what she's worth, I just thought the point of the original post was that she does have an asset worth some money, not that it was luxurious or that's living some super fabulous lifestyle.

And it's certainly relative, in terms of living space or whatever -- like everyone pointed out, a million dollars (sadly) doesn't buy much in NYC.

And she has a pension which means she does not have to save for her old age.

I'm assuming that's the gov't pension and therefore stable, but pension != safe. Half of my Dad's was gone 2 years after he retired. oops, sorry, you lose that.

I'd assume its a government pension,yeah.

Oh, I agree, Amy, it's not nothin'.

Her salary is over 150,000 per year.

For New York, really, that isn't huge. It's in the range of not having to worry too much about money, but still way below, say, Real Housewives territory. That's upper-middle class for New York, I'd say.

I think, before everything went to hell, first year associates in large firms were starting at about $120,000.

I read somewhere today that her reported savings is $32,000, and she has $15,000 in credit card bills and an outstanding $15,000 dental bill (ouch!). And in her neighborhood, $1 million will get you a 1000 sq. ft. condo.

But ... I think the point was not that her million-dollar property was especially big or luxurious, just that she *has* assets worth a million dollars, right?

No, the point is that "owns a MILLION DOLLAR CONDO" means that means that we should handwave away any sense that coming up as a minority woman from the projects and getting to where she is is anything you might give her some credit for. It's proof, really, that she's no different than any given upper white class man. Except for maybe the leg up from affirmative action.

[TB, that's not directed at you, really. But I know where I've seen this point raised before in recent weeks. And it's not good company to be in.]