We live in the new money area. It became clear that they don't actually have money: they have high income and high expenses. Earlier in the fall when the vax mandates came out and our neighbor that is GC at a major healthcare network was giddy about firing the unvaxxed I gave him a warning about seeing firsthand how well things like this played out in Iraq 15 years ago.

Then I got the, "Well how are you going to afford your mortgage and the payments on your new SUV?"

Their reaction when I shrugged and answered: "What mortgage, what car payment? We paid cash for both. This house is the least valuable property I own. What if my wife loses her job tomorrow we're retired (in our 40's). Hell it only takes half her salary to maintain our standard of living and the farms now provide more income than her job. I wrote checks this summer for fertilizer that were more than your Tesla."

They kind of shut the hell up after that. It became very clear that if they suddenly got a $15,000 bill that was due in 30 days they'd have trouble finding that kind of cash. Granted we drive a Dodge minivan and a Buick SUV now. It's not like we're buying BMW's or Audis...