General Discussion

She and her husband were renting an apartment in Manhattan when Covid hit. Prices for property in Manhattan plunged initially, and they wisely took advantage of that to buy an apartment to live in. They borrowed some money from my other daughter to make the big down payment. Why they didn't ask me, I don't know, but they didn't. My other daughter is rolling in it anyway, so there was a certain logic to that, and she has managed to pay only 50% in income taxes instead of the 73% they are asking of me.

But the day care cost for their two sons is indeed immense. The $26,000 mentioned in your article is probably conservative. My daughter barely makes six figures, and her husband makes maybe double that. But with state and city taxes taking out about half their gross income, and costs of food, utilities, day care and out-of-pocket medical in Manhattan being what they are, they are not left with much at the end of the year, despite that their income might seem like a bloody fortune in Iowa or Kansas.

Rents are high, housing is high, since the law of supply and demand has never been repealed. There's no doubt about it, Manhattan IS a cool place to live. My NYC daughter used to love visiting her great-grandfather while he was alive (he lived to 102), partially because she loved visiting Manhattan where he lived (same apartment since the 1950s, East 89th Street). At age 12, she said, some day I am going to live here. Her first apartment was a crumbling, leaky, rat-infested dump in the east thirties. As she started to move up, finding a dry place and a few roommates, she was able to keep her head above water. I have to give her credit for her determination. She only once asked me for help, and I got it all back within 2 years. But finding a decent place in Manhattan is not an easy task, even if you DO have the money, and there are apparently enough people out there earning enough money to compete for places in nice neighborhoods. These people didn't inherit anything. Her husband's father was murdered by Putin's thugs in Moscow when he was 8 or 9, and was pretty much penniless when he and his mom emigrated to the USA. What he has, he made. He's really smart, and he works like a dog. I say whatever he has left over after taxes, more power to him. I don't see where any government has the right to take more from him/them than 50% of what they earn. They busted their asses to get there, they didn't take it from anyone. Not everyone who lives in Boston, Manhattan or some other desirable city center is drinking champagne from golden cups and getting picked up by a Rolls Royce to their next luncheon appointment.