Don’t Cry For Me, Hillsborough
(Wall Street Journal)
OK, here we have it: the info-graphic from the WSJ that is supposed to make us say that people making over $250,000 per year have it bad, because that Socialist, The Kenyan Usurper is coming for your monies. As the WSJ told us during Chimpy’s Reign of Error, the people living in poverty are the Lucky Duckies because they don’t have to pay income taxes.
Anyway, note the single mother with the 6-figure income (with $35K coming from investments), just like all the single moms in west Oakland. Jeebus, how can she get by?
Or what about the single (Asian?) woman making $230,000? She will have to suffer with one less Hermes bag. Oh, the humanity!
And the white couple with the 4 children and the income of $650,000 with $180,000 in investment income? It’s too… I’m clinched up. I cannot speak of it. Give me a moment to pull myself together…
But the retired black couple who earn only $180,000? Those f***ing moochers are parasites, living off of us like ticks, having t-bone steaks and driving Caddies! Why it is enough to make me think that the WSJ was right! Those Lucky Duckies…
OK, so none of these people are in the Middle Class making around $52,000. So why am I supposed to think that The Kenyan has his jack-booted thugs standing on their necks again?
But the real loser here: The Wall Street Journal. If this is their vision of America, they have 99% myopia. And that is legally blind.
(Hat tip: Reading is for Snobs via Mr. TBogg)
But they are all SO SAD!!
I can just picture the meetings with the artist (who, as a free-lancer, is likely clearing 25K this year) “No! Make them sadder. Can’t you imagine how it feels to have this money YANKED from your meager $230,000 income? Just imagine how bereft these four kiddies are to have Mummy and Daddy working so hard to keep them in ONLY THREE HOUSES! Why, the family will probably have to let Rosita, the launderess, go!”
“MAKE THEM ALL THAT SAD!”
SHISH-PLOINK! [sound of a sharpened colored pencil being driven through the right eyeball of the editiorial executive]
Another question: for the retired couple, HOW in HELL do they make $130,000 a year? Their investment income is only $52,000, and SS certainly isn’t that much. I mean, they are RETIRED, right?
Y’know, if I was making $230,000 per year, an extra $2K in taxes would be the least of my worry. Finding places to stack my money would be the biggest worry. (I make somewhat less than that and already am shoveling money into bank accounts, 401(k), etc. hand over fist by the simple expedient of living modestly rather than buying a Mercedes and a million-dollar home).
Badtux -
Knowing you live just down the Alameda from me… I don’t know any single person making $230,000/yr even in Silicon Valley, with the possible exception of the executive suite. I just don’t. I suppose they exist, but I suppose somewhere there might be a unicorn, too. Also.
Rgds,
TG
The poor retirees will have to scrape along on $160,000 US which is $190,400.92 NZD which is in the top range for solicitor salaries.
The family with 4 kids do look sad as their Fed taxes go up 21,000. This will impact on their savings for when they go into the Citadel.
Ahhh, Hillsborough. Maybe you should explain it to the unwashed non-Bay Area masses. And isn’t Atherton (where I sort of grew up) richer?
M. Bouffant -
Hillsborough doesn’t have a middle class component which Atherton (allegedly) has.
For the uninitiated, Hillsborough is the horsie set; it it the location of the mansion used in Dynasty; it is where the old money lives, the country estates of the original SF railroad barons.
Rgds,
TG
The retired couple has all that money because they insure their cars with GEICO. Or Flo, the Progressive lady.
Here I thought those people were in Hillsborough, NJ.
TG, even most Silicon Valley CEO’s don’t make that much money. Oh sure, Larry and Serg make far more than that, but your typical small Silicon Valley company CEO is only making $40K or so more than his top engineers. Top engineers in the Silicon Valley are pulling in $150K right now, in case you’re wondering (at least that’s what glassdoor.com tells me my skills are worth on the open market). And typical small Silicon Valley company CEO’s are paid mostly in stock options, because the investors want to become rich when the company goes public and want to incentivate the CEO to take the company public at the most profitable time. This universe that the Wall Street Journal lives in, where you have “typical” single women making over $200K/year… I wonder what color the unicorns are there? Harumph!
I like that the single mom with two kids pays more in federal taxes than I make in a year. Maybe that’s what she’s sad about.
Silly hippies. Everyone knows REAL ‘Muricans start at $100K a year.
I certainly lived in the “poor” part of Atherton (on the border w/ the unincorporated county areas) but about 10 yrs. ago I read it was the fourth-richest community in the U.S. of A., which made my jaw drop.
I’m glad you cleared that up, TG.
Last night I believed it was supposed to be “Heavenly Hillsborough,” so I thought the whole town got filthy rich in the movies not believing in evolution.
Silly me. Now that I think of it, it was “Heavenly Hillsboro.”
Zombie – I’m a retiree living on my life savings and SS. Maybe the $180,000 includes distributions from their retirement IRA. Just sayin….
What suffering, impoverished looks these millionaires all have…. Clearly living in refrigerator boxes. I can only wonder where the giant eyes and the velvet backgrounds are….
The “artwork” looks as financially threatened, as an Ammo-American is with a midnight gun confiscation from the ATF.
But they will never top a rightard free speech victim.
Irony takes another kick in the basket.
racey-
I would think an IRA would be assessed as ‘Investment income”. Perhaps not; I am a zombie and I consider brains to be nutritious, so what do I know?
Zombie – I’m not sure since I haven’t done any distributions yet. Fair question.
http://retireplan.about.com/od/iras/a/ira-withdrawal.htm Third paragraph:
all IRA withdrawals are subject to ordinary income tax. An additional 10% early distribution penalty tax is assessed if you have not reached at least age 59 ½ when you take your distribution. Several exceptions to this penalty include:
ZRM,
Racey’s brain is the gold standard: smart, snarky, and absolutely one of the funniest brains I’ve ever encountered. Let’s just say, if I were a Zombie, I’d shamble my way to her house.
Rgds,
TG
PS – She’s also a strawberry blonde, oh man!
TG – you honor me – I am blessed with your friendship!