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Чак пък "женска злоба" :)))))Само исках да те извадя от заблуждение.
И статията е от 2007, сега нещета а още по-високи.......
What is middle class in Silicon Valley ?
Matt Bai, a reporter for the Sunday Times, posted an entry on his NYT blog about the definition of middle-class. In his article, he refers to the U.S. Census definition of poverty as $20,614 annual income for a family of four. However, there is no official definition of middle-class. Why is this important? Because most of the Democratic presidential candidates (Clinton, Edwards, Obama) are targeting this vaguely and apparently large group of people in their campaign rhetoric.
Now what was interesting in this posting, was not necessarily the blog (which was interesting), but the reaction by the fray. Comments came from a variety of people (ages, location, professions) about what that definition is. Some reader definitions included
- under $250,000 annual income
- 6 paychecks from foreclosure
- single New Yorker making $75,000
- a professor in Iowa making $45,000
- a SF Bay Area family $77,000 (according to some SF Chronicle article)
So, as a member of a 4-person family living in Silicon Valley, I am presenting a bottoms-up estimate of what a middle-class salary needs to be.
- mortgage - $4,000 (assuming a $800K house, 20% down payment 30year fixed loan)
- food (at home and out, including Starbucks runs) - $800
- utilities (broadband, utilities, phone, cell phone, tivo, water) - $400
- household goods/services (e.g., hospital co-pays, toilet paper, dental exams, plumber, appliances, etc..) - $300
- clothing - $200
- insurance (car, home, life) - $400
- car payments (2 moderate cars, no BMWs here) - $700
- gas - $200
- health insurance for family - $600 (employer subsidizes for employee)
- property tax on home (spread out over course of year) - $700
- gifts for family/relatives (averaged across all holidays/events) - $100
- 1 yearly vacation (spread out over the year) - $200
TOTAL of $8,600 in monthly expenses
Now assuming a 35% tax rate and $15,500 401K savings, we come to $174,269.
Nothing luxurious here - no BMWs (just a Honda, Camry), no big house, no private school, no clothing spending sprees, no orthodontic care, no weekend getaways to Hawaii or Europe, no household help, and no overwhelming savings aside from 401K....
Now, I am sure there are definitely ways to bring this down - cutting out the dining out, no new clothes at all during the year, no vacations, and lower gift expenses. Even if you cut out a lot of these expenses, you get to about $156,000.
The key to all of this is the mortgage payment which makes middle-class in Silicon Valley look ridiculously wealthy by most American standards. If we brought mortgage down to $1,000 which is more mainstream (assuming avg housing price of $207,000, 20% down, 30 year fixed), the annual income drops to $100,000. But then it wouldn't be Silicon Valley, would it?
Sad, isnt' it? I just hope the Democrats really do something about middleclass here in Silicon Valley.... ha ha... Maybe we should ask for Universal Mortgage :)
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Re: Ще се върнете ли в България? [re: KлинтъH]
Re: Ще се върнете ли в България?