Hoisted from Oþer People’s Archives: Michael O’Hare on þe Idiotic Todd Henderson, from 2010

From 2010-09-18

The whining of the rich

by Michael O'Hare

I came upon this truly amazing pasticcio of mendacity, ignorance, and small-minded cupidity…. The author is a law professor, not some high-school dropout Limbaugh lemming, and because the tone of entitlement and whining is typical of a fair number of the comments I got on my post about intergenerational equity…. Because Obama proposes to let the Bush tax cuts expire only on “incomes above $250K”, I was surprised that Prof. Henderson expected to be importantly worse off under the president’s plan, so I went here and plugged in what seemed to be reasonable numbers…. $5000 in charitable deductions, and a 5% mortgage on a million-dollar house, which is what would cost about $15K in property tax per year in Chicago, with 20% down [thanks JHA]: $40,000 per year in mortgage interest…. He says he’s paying “nearly $100,000″ in state and federal taxes, not including sales  tax; let’s say $95,000. Leaving out his property tax, that’s $80,000 in income tax.  How much income would lead to this kind of tax hit?… His pretax family income exceeds $250,000 by at least $90,000.  But this doesn’t include tax-free  contributions to their 401Ks: anything they are socking away for retirement adds to his actual income; unless they’re at the $33,000 limit they must just like to pay taxes, or are too stupid to be walking around professing and treating sick kids. So we’re pretty close to $400K gross income, and on top of that their employers are surely putting money into their retirement funds….

He is also whining about his and his wife’s education loans, $500,000, which are costing them about $50K per year in interest. Let’s just sketch out the family budget here: Taxes $100,000. Housing $65,000 mortgage + 15,000 insurance & maintenance = $80,000. Two really nice cars  $.70/mile x 15,000** miles = $10,500. Student loan payments (20 year amortization at 10%) = $60,000….

This leaves about $90,000, a lousy $245 a day,  for food, clothes, vacations, cable TV, and like that.  You can walk into Nordstrom’s on Upper Michigan and spend that in a minute, and for stuff you really need. Really, I don’t know how these people get by; their adaptive skills, economical habits, and modest living style is an inspiration to all of us. Perhaps they are careful to tip no more than 15% at the Sizzler when they splurge.

So how does our third-of-a-million-a-year law prof/doctor couple and their three kids, barely scraping by already and falling before our eyes to the very bottom of the top 1% of US families by income, make out under Obama’s rapacious soak-the-rich commie attack on all that is holy and American and fine? Wait for it; take a guess before the jump:

His taxes will go down $3700; he can buy one of those ties every two weeks! And this guy is threatening to fire the gardener and the house cleaner, take the kid out of art class, turn off his cell phones, and try to raise competent adults with only basic cable.  Prof. Henderson, I’m ashamed to share my profession with you….

The next time you come upon a Chicago law professor in his scuffed Gucci loafers and tattered Armani on the sidewalk, holding up his libertarian down-with-government sign and shaking his tin cup to get his doctor wife and hollow-eyed waifs through another tough week in their million-dollar hovel, please don’t just walk by. Remember, it could be you. Be a mensch: throw a nice shiny 3/8″ washer and couple of nickel slugs in there, with my blessings.