Salaries are very inflationary. Especially housing just adapts to what people can pay. If people can pay more, housing will just cost more. Of course, this is

Salaries are very inflationary. Especially housing just adapts to what people can pay. If people can pay more, housing will just cost more. Of course, this is also very much assisted by government regulations that prevent building new houses. Supply cannot adjust and therefore prices just go through the roof. Income tax is also very inflationary. If everybody makes 20% more and the prices go up 20%, you would think that nothing has changed. Not true. The taxes will have gone up by substantially more than 20%. So, taxes drag money out of the equation, and everybody will in fact be poorer. If salaries increase for one subgroup, inflation will push up the salaries for other subgroups too. So, waitresses and cooks will also need and end up getting higher salaries, and that pushes up the cost of restaurant bills and everything else you can think of. Everything will just cost lots more. That is how $130k in Sunnyvale will eventually push people below the poverty line.