I doubt that most years they are hurting terribly... They wouldn't have to 'hurt' at all, in fact they could experience personal records for income every year,

I doubt that most years they are hurting terribly... They wouldn't have to 'hurt' at all, in fact they could experience personal records for income every year, year after year, and still drop out of the top 400 (or top .01%), since it's a sliding scale.