I don’t mean the fictitious family* profiled, I am reserving my opprobrium for the reporter who has asked us to feel the pain and deprivation of a family getting by on just $½ million a year.
You see, they only have about 7½ grand a year free and clear after:
- Putting $36,000 a year in their 401(K) plans.
- Contributing $18,000 a year to charity.
- Spending $5000/month on a mortgage in the City.
- Spending $18,000/year on 3 vacations.
- Spending $42,000/year on childcare.
- Spending $9,500/year on two cars ……… In New York City.
- Spending $23,000/year on food, including regular jaunts to New York restaurants.
- $10,000/year for “stuff that comes up”.
Let’s also note that the reporter ignores The deductiblity of:
- Charitable donations.
- Mortgage interest
- Child care
Which would lower their tax burden by something on the order of $40K/year.
Also, their biggest expense, the mortgage would likely be half that if we stopped letting mobsters and corrupt politicians launder their money through real estate deals, which inflates real estate prices.
Still, even after all that fiscal incompetence, this fictional family has $140 a week mad money.
Not so bad.
To quote Marie Antoinette’s last words, “I’m sorry operator, I’ve been cut off.”
*We need to have sympathy for this family, because they are fictitious, a condition effecting thousands of families around the world.†
†Please give generously to the Fictitious Family Relief Fund. They are funding research on making the sufferers of this condition real.‡
‡At this point, they can only exist in virtual reality.