Is True too bourgeois?

Oh, True, you are just SO bourgeois. How nice for all the people who can afford $850 per month mortgages, plus utilities, taxes and insurance.

For those earning $30,000 or less per household, this will account for perhaps two-thirds of their income. If they are single parents supporting children, maybe working two or three jobs without health care or benefits, how can they make ends meet? The kids need clothes and school supplies at a minimum and it would be nice if they could get birthday and Christmas gifts. The costs for basic necessities here--food, clothing, household supplies,--are nearly double what you would find in south Florida where my extended family lives.

The Minnesota taxes paid by this hypothetical family, when regressive sales taxes and government fees are added in, will be higher than those paid by the richest one percent in proportion to income, at a guess totalling at least 10 percent of income.

This reminds me of the distortions of census data promulgated by the Resort Owners Club in their recent economic analysis, asking that new taxes support their tourism dollars and failing to mention that these are already heavily subsidized by foreign workers who are pleased to be paid a pittance, live in awful dormitory-style housing at exorbitant cost, and needless to say get no benefits whatsoever.

The amazing assertions of these folks that earning $10 an hour is a living wage for a family of four provided that both parents work full time reminds me of Dubya, who thinks that allowing deductions for health care on your tax return will help the 47 million uninsured, most of whom don't itemize deductions.

Census data can be interpreted in many ways. If one looks at the numbers earning above and below the median (or middle point) one finds vast discrepancies. These discrepancies are widest between women and men, between part-timers working lots of jobs and full-timers with benefits, and between age groups.

The Sawtooth Cottages "affordable" units might be good for families with two incomes totalling $48,000 or more. It's a rule of thumb that housing costs including mortgage, taxes, and insurance not exceed 30 percent of income. At a Grand Marais average of $16,000 for all of the above, that is what we are looking at. But, that is not what we have in the need-for-affordable-housing pool.

True, get real.

Nancye Belding
Grand Marais