Should the poverty line be $100,000 a year? $140K? Odell Beckham describes his own struggles to live on $20 million . . .

Photo above - Odell Beckham Jr poses with his Rolls Royce and other cars in his $9 million collection, while explaining why it's impossible to live on $20 million a year ("That's only $12 million after taxes")

I was caught off guard earlier this year when clickbait articles appeared, claiming an income less than $100,000 a year was “poverty”. (Mine is below that). I had always assumed that somewhere between minimum wage ($15-ish) and $30 was poverty. $100,000? That would mean every teacher and police officer in America is below the poverty line. So this claim is complete BS.

Then Investopedia (link below) saw that ante, and raised the bet to $140K. WTH!! That’s $70 an hour. All the Baristas who are on struje at Starbucks will have their heads explode. Okay, we have too many Starbucks in America anyway. If people want to pull themselves out of poverty they should make coffee at home, instead of popping out for a $7.50 (plus tip) Grande every morning. (Disclaimer - actual prices may be higher in LA, NY, etc.)

This is the problem with national poverty lines that cover all 50 states. And national minimum wages. People in high tax/high housing states will always feel poor. And their jobs will keep migrating to the flyover states, where anyone making $70 an hour is a big shot. Or those coastal big city jobs will be replaced by robots, and soon AI. If everyone insists on $140,000 a year, then robots and AI will replace everyone, and there will be nobody left to tax. Don’t say “tax the corporations”. We (consumers) pay those taxes at the cash register, as Donald Trump so ably reminded us this year.

Why is Odell Beckham Jr in the headline at top, though? He has a $100 million, 5 year NFL contract. And he worries if he can make those paychecks last the rest of his life, once he retires for good, or suffers a career ending injury. I imagine that if you live in Los Angeles mansion, the future does look bleak when you realize your highest earning years are behind you.

Don’t tell Odell to save more and spend less. He’s already tried that, just like you and me. It often seems impossible to curtail your clothing purchases, clubbing habits, new additions to your car collection, and of course the Starbucks fix. In Odell’s case we can assume he picks up the Starbucks tab for his entire entourage.

I’m not making fun of Odell. Even if he is a clueless dropout who played for 4 different teams in the past 4 seasons and was recently suspended for violating the league’s PED (performance enhancing drug) rules. Odell DID try to get a college degree from LSU, but he dropped out in 2014 at the NFL’s suggestion to sign with NY Giants. For $2.6 million. Odell has struggled to make ends meet ever since.

In yesterday’s column I covered some smart aleck money manager from Edward Jones, whos advice for everyone is “don’t put your money in an IRA. Just start your own business.” I doubt it even someone as rich as Odell will try that. He’s painfully aware of his own limited business skills. Odell's future may involve Nike and Pfizer TV ads (like Dak Prescott, Travis Kelse, and Russell Wilson). Odell had better figure out how to make THOSE paychecks last, because they’re certainly not going to amount to $20 million a year.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Is the Real 'Poverty Line' $140,000 a Year?

NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. reveals struggle of living on $100M contract and breaks down how $20M/year goes fast after taxes. Could you make it last?

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Thinkerbell is this the currency which toppled the german postwar government, and brought Hitler to power?

Why didn't their version of the Federal Reserve fight inflation with higher interest rates?

Thinkerbell · 41-45, F

@SusanInFlorida

No, the hyperinflation of 1923 didn't immediately topple the Weimar government, but it undoubtedly had a long-term effect in that direction. The cash savings of the middle class were wiped out, and the holders of German WW1 war bonds didn't appreciate being paid off in worthless paper.

A significant factor contributing to the hyperinflation was the French/Belgian military occupation of the Ruhr district when Germany defaulted on its war-reparation payments (in coal and timber) required by the Versailles treaty. German workers went on strike, refusing to work under the occupation, and of course they were no longer paid. The Weimar government paid relief money to hundreds of thousands of idle workers with money it didn't have, so it just printed bank notes.

The inflation was finally brought under control by early 1924 through the efforts of Hjalmar Schacht and Gustav Stresemann, the latter being the most skillful German politician since Bismarck. Stresemann negotiated a more reasonable schedule of war payments (getting a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts), leading to the 'golden years' (1926-1928) of the Weimar Republic.

What finally toppled Weimar was the Great Depression, where unemployment reached a high of 32% (worse than the 25% peak in the USA). First the middle class catastrophe in 1923, then the working class catastrophe in 1929 was just too much.

And no, Germany's economic/political problems were far too great to be fixed by Keynsian tweaking of interest rates, and of course they were vastly increasing the money supply, contributing to the runaway inflation. Some historians think this was deliberate, as it wiped out the domestic debt.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Thinkerbell upvoted. thanks for deep dive on this. it any case, it validates my core beliefs that both inflation and unemployment are bad.

it doesn't make me believe the federal reserve is doing anything except trying to support this or that politician in an election year.