Interesting read. Unlike a lot of these kinds of articles, I feel like this one was not meant to elicit sympathy but rather show a side of income inequality that is not generally talked about.
I agree. Though in the MPR interview, she was definitely showing more of her subjective feelings about the people (and she has followed their lives for years, so it's not surprising that she would become emotionally involved/sympathetic toward them).
For those on the rich side, who feel like they need $10M+ to be "completely financially secure", I have no greater judgment than I do for those who feel like 2% is the max acceptable SWR. At that point, it's not about the money, it's about something else. And while I may have issues personally with the probable environmental impact of such a lifestyle, I can hardly fault people for working to make more money.
Again, I agree. The thing I think she does a pretty good job of indicating is that this is not only a purely financial issue, but an emotional one. For those who have huge amounts of money and still don't feel secure, their emotions are just as "real" to them, of course, as people who are "really" poor.
For those on the poor side, who "scale back" to "just the basics" and "always [try] to look on the bright side", that sounds pretty Mustachian to me. Maybe she's cherry-picking examples, but talking about a single mom working as a cashier and is struggling, to me that's not a valid target for "Why aren't you saving 50% of your income?"
Again, I agree (LOL) -- to an extent. The thing about those people (the Laura Delgado example) that struck me, though, was not the level of Mustachian-ness that this person displayed in her
attitude. It was more that I found myself thinking, "Gosh, I wonder if she would benefit from MMM." I mean, I'm sure she is doing the best she can, and working very hard to limit expenses. But (and I mean no judgment here), we've all seen case studies here and on MMM's blog, where someone is really struggling, and then when they put down their monthly income and expenses, we can right away see ways in which their financial situation could be instantly improved. I kind of wanted to go over to her house and help her brainstorm, KWIM?
I think income inequality is a problem because of the way that societies with high inequality tend to be socially and politically unstable. If my goal is financial independence, then that's going to group me in with the "rich" even if my consumption is more in line with the "poor". What if I achieve FI and then political instability leads to a wealth tax or other method of nationalizing my assets?
As a mustachian, I'd rather pay a heavily progressive income tax than risk social and political instability. I can plan for taxes, I can't plan for revolutions.
+ 1.