Actual Wall Street Journal graphic on how much people will suffer in tax hikes (truly bizarre)

[Demo_Chris]

15. You think it's EASY getting by on only 379K a year?!

You have no freaking idea what it's like to be a middle class person in this country!

Obviously I am not going to live in a ghetto, but that doesn't mean we all live in mansions! We live in a modest 3200 square foot house in a gated subdivision. Did I say house? It's a money pit! Even the little things add up to serious money. Just paying the pool boy costs a fortune and it's not even that big of a pool! The groundskeepers are $550 a month, and that's a bargain I only got when I threatened to call immigration on them. Then we've got the housekeeping service, and that isn't cheap. You'd think for what we pay them they would do the outside third story windows, but no, we have to pay a window company for that as well. It's a scandal.

Nothing is cheap these days. Not for any of us. My son Prescott came home crying the other day. It seems he wandered outside the walls of our community and was set upon by a gang of hooligans who made fun of the way he was dressed. He ran away, as we have tought him, and these criminals followed -- still yelling insults -- until they were stopped by the security at the gate. Prescott was inconsolable. His hat -- a jaunty bowler he selected himself on his last trip to London -- fell off when he fled, and not being suicidal I wasn't about to venture out there to retrieve it myself, so I had to have a new one sent next day air. So there's that bill, plus the intensive therapy Prescott will need after his ordeal. He graduates from Marbury Academy next year, then it's off to college, so we have that to look forward to as well.

My daughter Penelope adds her own expenses. She too is still in therapy -- we won't go into why. Plus she does dance, gymnastics, and equitation. Her horse alone is setting us back a fortune, never mind the stable fees and the groomsmen, but my little princess is worth it!

Anyway, like I said, it's not exactly easy being middle class. $31,000 a month only goes so far. We are struggling exactly like the rest of you. I am only thankful that President Obama decided not to raise our taxes -- I don't know how we would get by.