Modern conservatism has two core beliefs about money: the poor have too much of it, and the rich don’t have enough. Every so often, the Heritage Foundation or somebody will release a study harrumphing that the poors have fridges, microwaves, and maybe even smart phones! (That last one is the most baffling complaint. If you want people to find jobs — as opposed to just yelling at them for not having one — they need phones and internet access.)
Clearly they’re living a life of luxury. But for those just scraping by on $500,000 a year, it’s a different story.
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As near as I can tell, this article isn’t meant to be parody: A hypothetical couple with two kids is “living paycheck to paycheck” on $500,000 a year, which the author claims is a mere $278,400 after taxes….and $36,000 worth of 401K contributions. Scroll down to the chart, and expenses include a $1.5 million home, a BMW and an SUV, $800 a MONTH for clothes for a family of four, three vacations a year at $6000, and $10,000 a year for “miscellaneous,” leaving them with a mere $7500 at the end of the year.
And, incredibly, this is followed by a heading that says “High income = Lots of stress.” The whining is amazing: “Society won’t acknowledge the sacrifices you made, the time and money you spent, and the risks you took to get to your position today.” Yeah, tell me about stress when you’ve tried being a single parent who scrubs floors or buses tables. Or that high-powered couple’s nanny.
We all wish we had more, but let’s try and keep some perspective. Does this author have any idea what most people would do to have $7500 left over after expenses? How many people fall into a hole they can’t get out of, because of one illness or other emergency? Read some Linda Tirado, dude, and you’ll learn what “Hand to Mouth” means.
But hey, I heard somebody just bought a candy bar with food stamps — they’re not suffering enough!
On to Top Comments!
Mike the Liberal wrote an awesome diary urging people to keep sending those top comments in when you see them. Then he set the bar high by sending these two from Jen Hayden’s diary, Holocaust survivor gets standing ovation after taking on ICE director and sheriff at public meeting:
Today, ontheleftcoast makes an excellent point about history. It’s not just facts and dates.
And in response, Hatrax tells the story of his grandfather, an actual Nazi.
From JamieG from Md:
I would like to nominate jan4insight's comment here:
"You have it backwards: the media needs to pay serious attention to her, and to all the strong women fighting in the public for a better for all of us.
The media needs to grow up and drop their 1950s locker-room attitudes about women (and that’s just for a start)…."
From BoiseBlue:
From FarWestGirl:
Response to cinepost’s remark above, in the diary Spicer’s Freudian Slip with Update.
From cminus:
Front Towards Enemy wrote this - watch out for the side effects!
The side effect of his comment was that I nearly fell off my chair laughing. One reader suggests that "Kos, pay this man for his words", and I second that.
Have fun!
[Note from Tara: be sure to check out cminus’s meta-parody in response.]
From the top-est of Top Comments hosts, brillig:
Fearless leader kos has a Where I've Been diary, and pierre9045 gets a Top Comments nod for this brilliant suggestion!
Top mojo, courtesy of mik:
Picture quilt, courtesy of jotter: