Reply
Thu 15 Apr, 2010 09:54 am
Please look at this English text ...
American families today have only about half as much discretionary income as their parents did, after paying for increasingly expensive basics like housing and health care.
what does it mean by 'discretionary income ' ? This looks a peculiar wording to me.
I understand 'discretionary' .....say 'discretionary' power of United States President.
'income' = 'income'
but when we combine 'discretionary income' ....... it becomes weired .
Can you please explain what does this mean in this context ?
Discretionary income is money left over after paying TAXES and paying for necessities.
Obamanomics will drastically raise taxes leaving little money to pay for life's
necessities and Obama's taxes will virtually eliminate all discretionary income.
very peculiar wording ......'discretionary income' ....not sure how and why its originated such a way
@tintin,
The income is spent at your discretion after meeting your obligations.
@tintin,
Are you familiar with the phrase, "at your discretion"?
@tintin,
tintin wrote:I understand 'discretionary' .....say 'discretionary' power of United States President.
what does "discretionary power of U.S. president" mean?
@H2O MAN,
http://lexicon.ft.com/term.asp?t=discretionary-income
Income that you can spend on things that are not completely necessary for living
@ehBeth,
that need not be US President actually ...that was just an example. For example, our president has the discretionary power to stop a death sentence. Even if the guilty punished to death sentence by the highest court, President can use his discretionary power to stop it ....but anyway, its rare.
@ehBeth,
yup...I understand that.
So, it would be ok to say ... Income I can spend at my discretion = discretionary income
That looks fine.
@ehBeth,
Discretionary income = Money left over after paying TAXES and paying for necessities.
@H2O MAN,
The definition has to do with whether you have a choice in how to spend the particular funds - not why those are the funds.
That kind of fine point might be useful with someone who is further along in their EFL studies, rather than someone just coming across the idiom for the first time.
@ehBeth,
I feel tintin is capable of moving further along faster than you think.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace