even more quiddities and agonies of the ruling class - a new rolling new york times thread

they're factoring in state and local xp

here's the writeup:

Largest Expenses

Taxes ($185,600, ~40% effective tax rate): The government doesn’t believe in two high-earning working spouses. They want one spouse to stay at home and take care of the kids. If they didn’t, why did President Obama campaign aggressively for $200,000 + $200,000 = $250,000 before taxes go up for the top? Equality would dictate that $200,000 + $200,000 = $400,000, which is the compromise our politicians made.

Living in NYC is expensive due to Federal (39.6% marginal tax bracket), State (10%+), City (4.25%+) taxes, and FICA tax of 6.4% for the first $127,200 you make for 2017. Unfortunately, NYC is where the jobs are. This couple is paying roughly $8,000 – $10,000 extra a year due to the marriage penalty tax. Furthermore, they have AMT, an extra 0.9% Medicare tax they have to pay on income over $200,000, and net investment income tax (NIIT) of 3.8% on income over $250,000!

- See more at: http://www.financialsamurai.com/scraping-by-on-500000-a-year-high-income-earners-struggling/#sthash.wSuoWtUT.dpuf

"One breath of scandal, and not only would the Giscard scheme collapse but his very career would be finished! And what would he do then? I’m already going broke on a million a year! The appalling figures came popping up into his brain. Last year his income had been $980,000. But he had to pay out $21,000 a month for the $1.8 million loan he had to take out to buy the apartment... Of the $560,000 remaining of his income last year, $44,400 was required for the apartment’s monthly maintenance fee… $18,000 for heat, utilities, insurance and repairs, $6,000 for lawn and hedge cutting, $8,000 for taxes. Entertaining at home and in restaurants had come to $37,000. This was a modest sum compared to what other people spent."

a hahaha, totally.

Living in NYC is expensive due to Federal (39.6% marginal tax bracket), State (10%+), City (4.25%+) taxes, and FICA tax of 6.4% for the first $127,200 you make for 2017. Unfortunately, NYC is where the jobs are. This couple is paying roughly $8,000 – $10,000 extra a year due to the marriage penalty tax. Furthermore, they have AMT, an extra 0.9% Medicare tax they have to pay on income over $200,000, and net investment income tax (NIIT) of 3.8% on income over $250,000!

i'm not going to run the numbers on this extremely dumb article, but the 39.6% marginal tax bracket doesn't start until $466k, which they are under after deductions.

if their effective rate is really 40% they should spend $250 on an hour with a financial planner.

the average federal income tax paid for 500k is 22%, the idea that state and local would eat up an entire 18% of someone's salary is ludicrous. The first line of that second paragraph contains one outright lie (top NY state marginal tax rate is less than 9%, not 10%+), and I know it's stupid to be fact-checking such an obvious bullshit website but the "250K+ is middle class in New York" irrationally annoys me more than just about anything and I will fight it until my dying breath

something always comes up...

...your nose

also a year where you covered all "necessary" expenses, saved plenty for retirement, had $10k lying around for miscellaneous expenses, and still had $7300 left over at the end, that would be a total boon for the average american family, not a "regular year" where you "still feel average"

sorry, i know it's a totally dumb "article" and outside the purview of this thread in the first place, i just can't resist hammering it.

Even ignoring all the idiocy in that chart - I just don't get it. Like how much money are they saying they would need left over after buying everything they want so that they would feel rich?

hafta be able to roll in it, in paper form

from the nyt's recipes newsletter:

Good morning. The news of the world may be grim running to grimmer, but still we make time to cook, hoping that the practice can bring a balm to wounded souls.

Take as an example Melissa Clark's recipe for a roasted carrot salad with arugula and pomegranate (above). Make it tonight while listening to Laura Marling, while enjoying a glass of wine,

while listening to Laura Marling, while enjoying a glass of wine,

and while we're at it, I can recommend what clothes you should wear, what time of day to begin, and what brands of utensils to use, if you would like to reproduce the full soul-wound-balming-salad effect.

yeah those one liners do break yer heart

Help I'm confused about quinoa!

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/07/upshot/confused-about-quinoa-and-nutrition-so-are-other-americans.html

But nutritionists and ordinary Americans also differ in an obvious but important way: Nutritionists know a lot more about food.

whoa holy shit, you don't say???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJopF6WJNw

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9tTBnGXgAEn8yl.jpg:small

on a positive note, they are mortal like all men and must ultimately die

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/dining/pizza-expensive-sofia-shoppe-nyc.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/business-39896838/a-cheaper-tastier-way-to-eat-lunch-at-work

“She knows that we have a problem with pizza,” said Mr. Tolia, a hedge fund manager for Bengal Capital Trading. “There’s a lot of dough, and the sauce is not as tangy and present as on some other pizzas that I’ve had. But this is really about the crust, and that’s really original.”

Of the price, Mr. Tolia said: “I’m not the right person to ask. I’m a sucker for these kinds of things.”

I am 100% certain this guy talks about women the same way he talks about pizza

“I’m not the right person to ask. I’m a total asshole.”

Not really the right thread but this is the closest we have to "Rolling Eat The Rich"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/business/economy/high-end-medical-care.html?_r=0

this is truly amazing.

http://nypost.com/2017/06/11/inside-gwyneth-paltrows-ridiculous-goop-summit/

oh man,

that made my day

it just keeps giving and giving and GIVING.

“integrative photosynthesis,” “spiritual Wi-Fi,” “laterality to the body,” “neuro-vegetative signs” and “the ontological experience called your life.”

“What makes water wet?” he asked, more than once. “I nearly got a master’s in electric chemistry asking that question.”

“This is not a convention,” he said. “It’s a pilgrimage. We are here to hold the light, the consciousness, for a different way of being.”

we are all mere pawns of something called The Field, which Stutz described as “the invisible force that makes things happen that you can’t do on your own.”

The enemy of The Field, they claim, is Part X: “a devil living inside you, a demon. He wants to f—k you up any way he can.”

Children are here, Sami continued, to teach their mothers how to be “a great digestive enzyme,” to help their children “metabolize their experiences” while leading the mother towards her “divinity.”

This is basically an early stage of a scientology-like cult

Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet?
Why did Judas rat to Romans while Jesus slept?

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/701449687669350405/NmLLslVi.jpg

Next up was “The 10-Minute Facelift with Dr. Julius Few,” a room-clearing demonstration in which Few sliced holes in a volunteer’s face. After explaining that his patient was under a local anesthetic, he pushed a threaded needle through his volunteer’s left cheekbone to her lower jaw, then reversed course while tugging tight.

Those who remained groaned and gasped. The doctor was unfazed.

“I do think Gwyneth and I are alike, in that we think the best things in life are simplest,” he said, dabbing up the wounds. “This procedure starts at $3,500 and lasts two to three years.” Few’s quick addendum: Blindness is a potential side effect.

oh my god

the best things in life are simplest,” he said, dabbing up the wounds.

i actually say that all the time when i'm dabbing up the wounds....

http://adequateman.deadspin.com/new-york-citys-parking-rules-have-turned-me-into-a-soci-1796548088

Pissing away money on ZipCars and rentals doesn't sound like it was pissing away money IMO.

Objectively, alt-side parking rules are a civic good: The street cleaners sweep up the curbside detritus that is a fact of life in a city of eight million people, and without an ordinance to temporarily assure that parked cars are out of the way, the accumulated filth would be unimaginable

this is bullshit. no other country on earth does this, and lots of them are cleaner than new york. cars in the way isn't the problem.

really love the social q's column https://t.co/Ogtf2iOnef pic.twitter.com/pdG7bbKBdt

— Sapna Maheshwari (@sapna) July 6, 2017

I don't know if this qualifies, but I'm trying to make sense of this:

"Heather Lile, a nurse who makes $180,000 a year, commutes two hours from her home in Manteca to the San Francisco hospital where she works, 80 miles away."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/us/california-housing-crisis.html

While they do pull down huge salaries, the problem with most of these supernurses is they can't drive above 40mph.

the housing crisis in the bay area is completely real and has been for years afaict. It all seems stupid and horrible and completely avoidable

for sure but, you know, still...

it's insane.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/2017/07/08/the-latest-silicon-valley-housing-idea-on-a-landfill/

DC also has its fair share of people who have household incomes in that range and commute 2 hours but that's because they want the big house in the country, not because we have taken completely dumbass stances on density and transit from the 1950s

Also didn't San Mateo catch fire when a landfill exploded, like, recently? Or am I getting the facts wrong...

that was a gas line right?

pg&e

that wasn't landfill-related; it was a poorly maintained pg&e gas line in san bruno (in san mateo county).

that article notes the median house price is a "staggering" 500k. it's 800k in Melbourne now :( how are we worse than fucking san fran wtf

I think the 500k figure is statewide

looks like it's more like 1.5 mil for sf

Ty for the corrections