(CNN) -- Venture capitalist Tom Perkins is back in the news with a big (and ridiculous) idea: If you pay a million dollars in taxes, you should get a million votes. While some media outlets have since pointed out that Perkins was perhaps courting controversy, his system of wealthier Americans having more say at the ballot box follows an equally bizarre argument this week from Bud Konheim, CEO of luxury retailer Nicole Miller. Konheim took a different tack on the inequality debate, asserting instead that all Americans are wealthy. According to Konheim, "We've got a country that the poverty level is wealth in 99% of the rest of the world. So we're talking about woe is me, woe is us, woe is this. ... The guy that's making, oh my God, $35,000 a year. ... Why don't we try that out in India or some country we can't even name ... China, anyplace -- that guy is wealthy."
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Jennifer Erickson: The rich like Tom Perkins and Bud Konheim live in a bubble
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Erickson: Konheim's idea that the poor in America are actually wealthy is ludicrous
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She says median incomes in American are lower now than they were in 2000
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Erickson: Without a vibrant middle class, America will fall behind in economic growth
Konheim and @placeholder can disparage their fellow citizens all they want, but the truth is that the American economy will do better when more Americans are doing better.