The lengths at which Wall Street and business news reporters will go to to make believe earning $400,000 a year is a pittance is remarkable.
Take Robert Frank of CNBC. He wrote an article designed to bash Pres. Biden's tax increase proposal that affects only the wealthy. "Here’s what that buys in a big city," he writes.
Yet while $400,000 may provide for a luxurious life in West Virginia or Alabama, it provides for a less lavish lifestyle in big U.S. cities, experts say. The soaring costs of housing, education and child care can quickly absorb the after-tax income on a $400,000-a-year family.
Sam Dogen, founder of the personal finance site Financial Samurai, calculated what $400,000 gets a family of four in a high-cost city like New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington or Honolulu.
He said a family of four living in a high-cost city with $400,000 a year in income could afford a $1.6 million mortgage on a $2 million home. He said they would be able to drive a mid-range vehicle — like a Toyota Highlander — and be more likely to shop for clothing at the Gap than Gucci. They would be able to take three vacations a year, but two would have to be staycations and the other would be a road trip.
Owning a two million dollar house is f**king rich. Most of the examples Frank uses are the big east and west coast cities that Republicans are supposed to hate, anyhow. And the increase on $400K is only 1%. I doubt that will affect these poor families making more than 98.2% of households in America from becoming destitute.
Frank does admit, "the bulk of the $4 trillion in added revenue from Biden’s plan would come from super-earners making more than $1 million, according to the Tax Policy Center."
This is an embarrassing article all around.
As Tommy Christopher tells us, CNBC is getting "brutally mocked for this article.
If $400k/year is such a struggle, @CNBC, it sounds like the minimum wage needs to be at least ~$200 per hour. https://t.co/jnpLvKsTjr
— Evan Wilhelms (@evanwilhelms) March 19, 2021
The fact that a CNBC writer can't distinguish between middle class and actual poverty is funny and sad.
But it's also worth noting that in terms of actual tax revenue, these 2-1%-ers are kinda meaningless. That's how bad income inequality has gotten in tbe US. https://t.co/9pZZetRPMJ— Student of the Classics (@KirinDave) March 20, 2021
The federal poverty rate for a family of four is 27k. Do you know how hard it is to raise a family on 20, 30, even 50k? Yet these entitled fools can bitch that 400k isn't enough? Eat my shorts, @CNBC. #TaxTheRich https://t.co/DbuGpDfZSQ
— Liam O'Mara for Congress (@LiamOMaraIV) March 20, 2021
