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"Everyone driving slower than me is a slowpoke, everyone driving faster is a maniac" This was on full display back in 2017-2018 when tax code was changed to li

"Everyone driving slower than me is a slowpoke, everyone driving faster is a maniac" This was on full display back in 2017-2018 when tax code was changed to limit the amount of State and Local taxes (SALT) that could be deducted from your Federal tax liability. The original SALT deduction, before the change, clearly benefited the wealthy, with large mortgages and living in high-tax (read: expensive) areas. Cue articles like this one [1], which shows just how out of touch the wealthy can be: > estimate the tax law’s impact on the value of a theoretical house in the New York City suburb of West Orange, New Jersey, purchased for $800,000 in 2017 by a theoretical family with a $250,000 annual income. Those home value and income numbers are very high by national standards — but middle class by the standards of large parts of suburban Essex County. In 2017, $250K/HHI was in the top 5% of the entire US. Someone living in a house that cost 3X the median house, in one of the richest areas of the country, making more than 95% of everyone else considers themselves 'middle class'. [1] https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-trillion-dollar-hit-to-homeowners/amp?__twitter_impression=true https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-trillion-dollar-hi...

infinitecost 3y ago
> Cue articles like this one [1], which shows just how out of touch the wealthy can be Cue comments like these that show just how out of touch people can be I guess. These people are not meaningfully wealthy. They have no more power than the next 5% down the ladder. Even among the top 1%, 90% are not meaningfully wealthy in terms of the power they can exert. The idea that some poor bozo with a mortgage on an $800k house is wealthy for any useful definition of the term is nonsense.
wolverine876 3y ago
> considers themselves 'middle class' They don't consider themselves middle class, statistically they are middle class based on (income, wealth, purchasing power, etc.). They aren't out of touch - nobody asked them - they just live where there's a higher cost of living. But it pays off, or they would move someplace less expensive, and housing would cost the same nationwide.
- briHass 3y ago
  They are not middle class by any metric. They may feel overextended, but that can happen at any income level, and (as in this case) is often due to the spending side of the equation.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    They are by the metric in the article, and in the scope of their locale. I get your point, that they have lots of money. But at the same time it's not relevant: Just moving doesn't solve any problems, because they'd be much less productive in their new destination and have much less money. They are gathered around and investing in - very successfully and productively - the high-productivity resources of NYC, which produce higher income, which produce a higher standard of living. The average US locality's economy produces more wealth and requires more expense to live in than the average locality in a low-income country. You can't just move the Americans to the low-income country; they wouldn't be nearly as productive, and thus have less income. NYC's economy is more productive than almost any place in the world. We could widen the scope to all of human history, and then we're all unimaginably wealthy compared to hunter-gatherers we were until 10K years ago. But does that mean we're just as wealthy here and now?

infinitecost 3y ago

> Cue articles like this one [1], which shows just how out of touch the wealthy can be Cue comments like these that show just how out of touch people can be I guess. These people are not meaningfully wealthy. They have no more power than the next 5% down the ladder. Even among the top 1%, 90% are not meaningfully wealthy in terms of the power they can exert. The idea that some poor bozo with a mortgage on an $800k house is wealthy for any useful definition of the term is nonsense.

wolverine876 3y ago

> considers themselves 'middle class' They don't consider themselves middle class, statistically they are middle class based on (income, wealth, purchasing power, etc.). They aren't out of touch - nobody asked them - they just live where there's a higher cost of living. But it pays off, or they would move someplace less expensive, and housing would cost the same nationwide.

briHass 3y ago
They are not middle class by any metric. They may feel overextended, but that can happen at any income level, and (as in this case) is often due to the spending side of the equation.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  They are by the metric in the article, and in the scope of their locale. I get your point, that they have lots of money. But at the same time it's not relevant: Just moving doesn't solve any problems, because they'd be much less productive in their new destination and have much less money. They are gathered around and investing in - very successfully and productively - the high-productivity resources of NYC, which produce higher income, which produce a higher standard of living. The average US locality's economy produces more wealth and requires more expense to live in than the average locality in a low-income country. You can't just move the Americans to the low-income country; they wouldn't be nearly as productive, and thus have less income. NYC's economy is more productive than almost any place in the world. We could widen the scope to all of human history, and then we're all unimaginably wealthy compared to hunter-gatherers we were until 10K years ago. But does that mean we're just as wealthy here and now?