Did Obama ever directly benefit from Affirmative Action?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Archaea

I've seen 500kers struggle. I really don't believe those numbers.

I didn't know you were friends with Latrell Sprewell. Please wish him and his family well for me. I hope they are eating.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by marsupial

I really feel for these people. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to own 5 sports cars and yet only have a 4 car garage. That is nothing short of hardship.

If you're making 500K and you're struggling financially, you have a real problem.

500K in the forty percent bracket is not 500K.

Let's say you have five children.

Three are in college, two at BYU and one at NYU grad school. You have a five thousand dollar per month mortgage, two car payments and beaucoup payments to support the children. Now add an alimony payment on top of that of about eighty thousand per year.

You can be left struggling.

It is easier than one might assume to struggle at 500K. It sounds absurd to those making less, but 500K is not other worldly.

Remember when Donald Trump asked the bankruptcy court for a monthly allowance of 450K?

[marsupial]

Originally Posted by Archaea

500K in the forty percent bracket is not 500K.

Let's say you have five children.

Three are in college, two at BYU and one at NYU grad school. You have a five thousand dollar per month mortgage, two car payments and beaucoup payments to support the children. Now add an alimony payment on top of that of about eighty thousand per year.

You can be left struggling.

It is easier than one might assume to struggle at 500K. It sounds absurd to those making less, but 500K is not other worldly.

Remember when Donald Trump asked the bankruptcy court for a monthly allowance of 450K?

No one needs a $5,000 mortgage. If you're making 500K, you can certainly afford to pay cash for a car, at least a Corolla or something. It's called living within your means. Danimal and I have been able to do that on far, far, far, far less.

So, again I say, if you're making 500K and you're struggling financially you have a problem... probably a problem feeling entitled to have more things than you can afford.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Archaea

500K in the forty percent bracket is not 500K.

Let's say you have five children.

Three are in college, two at BYU and one at NYU grad school. You have a five thousand dollar per month mortgage, two car payments and beaucoup payments to support the children. Now add an alimony payment on top of that of about eighty thousand per year.

You can be left struggling.

It is easier than one might assume to struggle at 500K. It sounds absurd to those making less, but 500K is not other worldly.

Remember when Donald Trump asked the bankruptcy court for a monthly allowance of 450K?

Tell your lazy arse kids to pay their own way through college like the rest of us. They can take out some loans and get pell grants.

Also, stop being a leach and claiming them as dependents for your own benefit. Doing so would allow them to qualify for pell grants on almost no earned income.

Also, 5K per month in Vegas? Where do you live? Since 3 of your kids are in college, you are living in too much house and obviously way out of your means.

Just sayin'.

[ChinoCoug]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Tell your lazy arse kids to pay their own way through college like the rest of us. They can take out some loans and get pell grants.

Also, stop being a leach and claiming them as dependents for your own benefit. Doing so would allow them to qualify for pell grants on almost no earned income.

Also, 5K per month in Vegas? Where do you live? Since 3 of your kids are in college, you are living in too much house and obviously way out of your means.

Just sayin'.

Paying for kids' education is a good thing, but yeah, he should stop complaining.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Archaea

500K in the forty percent bracket is not 500K.

Let's say you have five children.

Three are in college, two at BYU and one at NYU grad school. You have a five thousand dollar per month mortgage, two car payments and beaucoup payments to support the children. Now add an alimony payment on top of that of about eighty thousand per year.

You can be left struggling.

It is easier than one might assume to struggle at 500K. It sounds absurd to those making less, but 500K is not other worldly.

Remember when Donald Trump asked the bankruptcy court for a monthly allowance of 450K?

Oh please. Anybody who struggles with a $500K income is a complete idiot.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Tell your lazy arse kids to pay their own way through college like the rest of us. They can take out some loans and get pell grants.

Also, stop being a leach and claiming them as dependents for your own benefit. Doing so would allow them to qualify for pell grants on almost no earned income.

Also, 5K per month in Vegas? Where do you live? Since 3 of your kids are in college, you are living in too much house and obviously way out of your means.

Just sayin'.

5K is not much for a home in Vegas now.

You can find a modest home in a nice neighborhood of only 3500 square feet that will cost about a million and it will cost about that or more. Now homes are sinking in value but for a large part of the middle class here, homes range between 400K and 1.5 million. This is the market hardest hit.

Entry level homes and the homes of 2.0 million and beyond are still selling. I cant remember the number of 2.0 mill plus but it was astounding for a little community of 2 million.

Being a leach by using a legitimate deduction? So only the real poor should use deductions and itemizations, which are phased out from 400 k to 1 million. But the 400K is very modest compared to what that would be in Mississippi. 800K in Cali is modest. It's all relative.

And a parent wishes to take away the burden of college debt so that they are not laden with debt as they leave college. Nothing wrong with that.

The value judgments that persons place upon those in the mid to upper middle class are humorous but sad. "Because they have more than I, they have too much and government should take it away."

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Oh please. Anybody who struggles with a $500K income is a complete idiot.

It sounds absurd, but let's say,

a couple leases two nice but not too expensive cars,

You're at 1500 per month.

They have one house with some equity, but now she divorces.

She basically gets everything and let's say 7 K per month in alimony plus another 3 for support for children.

You're at 11,500 without paying any further expenses.

What does grad school at NYU cost?

70 K per year and two at BYU?

If one were a physician or a business person, you can start down the road and the annual tax liability of 100 K and you're not saving a boatload of money.

So my definition of struggle is different than yours. 40K a month is great if you're accustomed to a janitor's lifestyle but most business people who earn that much have acquired a modestly demanding lifestyle.

And I'm really not an idiot, because I know how it sounds to middle incomers who are not in this bracket, but I get to listen to the complaints of my clients all day long, so I must learn to be sympathetic. And the pathos is really quite compelling.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Archaea

It sounds absurd, but let's say,

a couple leases two nice but not too expensive cars,

You're at 1500 per month.

They have one house with some equity, but now she divorces.

She basically gets everything and let's say 7 K per month in alimony plus another 3 for support for children.

You're at 11,500 without paying any further expenses.

What does grad school at NYU cost?

70 K per year and two at BYU?

If one were a physician or a business person, you can start down the road and the annual tax liability of 100 K and you're not saving a boatload of money.

So my definition of struggle is different than yours. 40K a month is great if you're accustomed to a janitor's lifestyle but most business people who earn that much have acquired a modestly demanding lifestyle.

"modestly demanding"? You're killing me.

I repeat, anybody who can't make ends meet on a half mil per year is a dumbass.

I hope you have a smirk on your face as you are trying to make this case.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

"modestly demanding"? You're killing me.

I repeat, anybody who can't make ends meet on a half mil per year is a dumbass.

I hope you have a smirk on your face as you are trying to make this case.

Milton Friedman has a few words of advice for us. People don't spend based on their income but based upon their expectations of income.

And they develop lifestyles which might be appropriate if certain circumstances remain constant, which they rarely do. However, people are not wont to change their lifestyles even if circumstances change.

and the upper middle incomers have concerns about lifestyle changes being imposed upon them by government. The ueber wealthy are insulated from any changes.

So let's say you invested in a time period when a large portion of your income came from rentals and then the rental market sinks causing you to have a net negative income cash flow. It is hard to cancel car leases, reduce your home mortgage payment and eliminate the condo payment at Tahoe when condos aren't selling and to tell the kid he has to drop out of NYU curator school. People mostly live on the edge no matter what their income is.

Should be government adopt policies designed to push them over the edge?