2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Do you realize what Obama actually did here? [View all]DFW
(54,341 posts)If you're making $80,000 and suddenly get a promotion to $150,000 you're still insane if you suddenly go to a lifestyle that costs twice as much.
My elder daughter lives in Manhattan, grosses around $60,000, which after taxes in Manhattan is nearly slave wages. After her take-home pay gets raided for rent and food, she has little more than pocket change left over. But it's her choice, and she knows what she's doing--it's her conscious choice, and as long as she's still living in the USA, she has to take whatever job she can find. She is jealous of her sister's vacation time (6 weeks as opposed to her 2), and is toying with the idea of finally moving back to Germany. She never gave up her German citizenship, so if she wants to do that, she'll have no administrative barriers.
As for me, I still get paid in dollars in the States but have to pay German taxes and live in Euros, so I'm in the 50% bracket already ($160,000 gross is enough to get you there) with a huge cost-of-living disadvantage. No Republican whining about going back to the Clinton years rates will garner a lot of sympathy from me.