The average global citizen also isn't paying American costs of living. My cousins in Asia are earning easily 10x less than I am in real nominal currency, but their cost of living is commensurately less.
Measures of wealth are just numbers until put in context of local costs of living.
Which addresses the reply to your post: $100K is wealthy in parts of the country, it's not wealthy in others. Getting paid $100K in small-town Idaho is a whole different ball game than getting paid $100K in SF.
The trick is that there are a lot more $100K jobs in one place than the other. What PhasmaFelis insists on calling "living beyond your means" is often nothing more than people looking for work.
Measures of wealth are just numbers until put in context of local costs of living.
Which addresses the reply to your post: $100K is wealthy in parts of the country, it's not wealthy in others. Getting paid $100K in small-town Idaho is a whole different ball game than getting paid $100K in SF.
The trick is that there are a lot more $100K jobs in one place than the other. What PhasmaFelis insists on calling "living beyond your means" is often nothing more than people looking for work.